Cabinet Office

Cabinet Office: Advertising

Pat McFadden: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much funding his Department (a) budgeted for and (b) spent on advertising in each of the last three financial years.

Alex Burghart: The Cabinet Office spent the following on advertising in the last three financial years: 20/21: £376,029,723.2121/22: £168,730,321.9622/23: £27,485,611.31 Detail on this and other spending is routinely published by the Cabinet Office on GOV.UK here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/cabinet-office-spend-data Advertising spend in 20/21 and 21/22 was considerably higher due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Cabinet Office played a leading role in providing the public with information about the Pandemic. Increased advertising was essential to doing this and keeping the country safe. The Cabinet Office budgets for advertising and other public relations activity is set in order to provide flexibility to the Cabinet Office to deal appropriately with what are often unforeseen events. This has been a long standing budgetary good practice under successive administrations.The overall budget for Marketing and Media for the years in question are set out below: 20/21: £558,297,00021/22: £242,177,00022/23: £39,501,000Work on advertising is primarily carried out by communications staff employed by departments and like all areas of government spending, costs are reviewed regularly to ensure value for money.

Construction: Suicide

Jim Shannon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of how many construction workers killed themselves in each of the last three years for which data is available.

John Glen: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon Members Parliamentary Question of 27th February is attached.UK Statistics Authority (pdf, 135.3KB)

Blood: Contamination

Dan Carden: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people have received interim compensation payments for (a) their and (b) their family member’s infection from contaminated blood or blood products in Liverpool, Walton constituency.

Dan Carden: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department has taken to (a) identify and (b) contact people in Liverpool, Walton constituency who were (i) infected and (ii) affected by the contaminated blood scandal, in the context of the Government's planned response to recommendations on compensation made by the Infected Blood Inquiry.

Dan Carden: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the number of people that would be eligible for compensation under the terms of the recommendations of the second interim report of Infected Blood Inquiry, published on 5 April 2023, in Liverpool, Walton constituency.

John Glen: Since October 2022, the Government has paid over £400 million in interim compensation payments to those infected or bereaved partners registered with the UK Infected Blood Support Schemes, totalling over 4000 individuals. The Statistical Expert Group, established by the Infected Blood Inquiry, has provided valuable insight into the numbers of infections from blood and blood products in the UK between 1970 and 1991 and subsequent survival rates. However, the requested information is not available by Parliamentary constituency. There is also considerable uncertainty over the number of people, especially those affected, who might be eligible under Sir Brian Langstaff’s recommendations. Therefore I am not able to provide a substantive response to the Honourable member’s questions on his constituency.

Blood: Contamination

Paul Girvan: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the number of people that would be eligible for compensation under the terms of the recommendations of the second interim report of Infected Blood Inquiry, published on 5 April 2023, in South Antrim constituency.

Paul Girvan: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department has taken to (a) identify and (b) contact people in South Antrim constituency who were (i) infected and (ii) affected by the contaminated blood scandal as part of Government preparations for responding to Infected Blood Inquiry recommendations on compensation.

Paul Girvan: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people in South Antrim constituency have received interim compensation payments as a result of (a) their infection and (b) their family member’s infection resulting from contaminated blood or blood products.

John Glen: The Statistical Expert Group, established by the Infected Blood Inquiry, has provided valuable insight into the numbers of infections from blood and blood products in the UK between 1970 and 1991 and subsequent survival rates. Since October 2022, the Government has paid over £400 million in interim compensation payments to those infected or bereaved partners registered with the UK Infected Blood Support Schemes, totalling over 4000 individuals. However, the requested information is not available by Parliamentary constituency. There is also considerable uncertainty over the number of people, especially those affected, who might be eligible under Sir Brian Langstaff’s recommendations. Therefore I am not able to provide a substantive response to the Honourable member’s questions on his constituency.

Blood: Contamination

Mr Robin Walker: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the number of people that would be eligible for compensation under the terms of the recommendations of the second interim report of Infected Blood Inquiry, published on 5 April 2023, in Worcester.

Mr Robin Walker: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people in Worcester have received interim compensation payments as a result of (a) their infection and (b) their family member’s infection resulting from contaminated blood or blood products.

John Glen: The Statistical Expert Group, established by the Infected Blood Inquiry, has provided valuable insight into the numbers of infections from blood and blood products in the UK between 1970 and 1991 and subsequent survival rates. Since October 2022, the Government has paid over £400 million in interim compensation payments to those infected or bereaved partners registered with the UK Infected Blood Support Schemes, totalling over 4000 individuals. However, the requested information is not available by Parliamentary constituency. There is also considerable uncertainty over the number of people, especially those affected, who might be eligible under Sir Brian Langstaff’s recommendations. Therefore I am not able to provide a substantive response to the Honourable member’s questions on his constituency.

Cabinet Office: Diaries

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish his diary for 13 November 2023.

John Glen: Ministers regularly meet with departmental officials and external stakeholders. Details of Ministerial meetings with external organisations and individuals are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.

Department of Health and Social Care

NHS: Pay

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had discussions with social enterprises that employ front line staff on funding to cover lump sum payments.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Alcoholism and Drugs: Rehabilitation

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her planned timetable is for the rollout of funding announced in the drug strategy housing support grant.

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had discussions with local authorities on how the targeted housing support interventions announced in the drug strategy housing support grant will be assessed.

Andrea Leadsom: As part of the Government’s 10-year drug strategy, 28 local authorities are receiving up to £53 million in this Spending Review period, from 2022/23 to 2024/25, to further strengthen evidence on what housing support interventions support recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. Local authorities have been implementing their services since funding was announced in February 2023, with funding currently confirmed until March 2025. Further information on funding allocation is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/drug-strategy-housing-support-funding-allocations-2022-to-2025 Assessing which interventions have improved drug and alcohol treatment as well as housing outcomes for this population, is a key strand of the independent evaluation of drug strategy investment into treatment and recovery, which is due to completed by December 2025.Further information about the evaluation can be found at the following link: https://d-sitar.org/evaluations/housing-support-grant-evaluation

Essex Mental Health Independent Inquiry

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress has been made on the Lampard Inquiry into mental health services in Essex.

Andrew Stephenson: Baroness Lampard, the Chair of the Inquiry, undertook a consultation on proposed amendments to the terms of reference for the inquiry in November 2023. Through this consultation, families and other stakeholders had the opportunity to outline their views on the proposed terms of reference. The Chair has submitted her proposed terms of reference for the statutory inquiry, and my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care will make a decision in due course.On 5 December 2023, my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care agreed to meet with families and local MPs in Essex, to discuss the terms of reference. A meeting will be arranged in due course.

Liver Diseases: Transplant Surgery

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce waiting lists for liver transplants.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department works with NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) as it continues to focus on saving the lives of those on the waiting list, and supporting safe organ transplantation from living and deceased donors. NHSBT has made changes to organ offering and allocation to maximise liver transplant opportunities for waiting list patients. They have also developed a United Kingdom wide living donor liver transplant programme to increase opportunities for patients on the waiting list to receive a living donor option. Additionally, NHSBT supports the use of liver perfusion devices across all transplant units to allow livers to be kept alive outside the body, to allow more patients to benefit. NHSBT’s marketing strategy also focuses on increasing transplantation through increased organ donor registrations. The strategy works to change the public’s perception and awareness of organ donation and inform how to register a donation preference.

Medical Equipment: Waste Disposal

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of collecting data centrally about levels of (a) reuse and (b) discard of NHS equipment.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department published the inaugural Medical Technology Strategy in February 2023, which included a focus on improving resource efficiency. The Department is working with industry, the health and care sector, and academic partners to develop medical technology systems that support reuse, remanufacture, and material recovery, by default. The Department is exploring options for reuse, remanufacture, and material recovery in medical devices, through its Design for Life programme. This includes developing regulatory, commercial, and infrastructure and policy environments that support these aims. As part of the programme, the Department recognises we will need to define future data requirements, and align digital infrastructure to improve the gathering of core data.   NHS England has developed a waste planning tool for all National Health Service providers, consistent with the Clinical Waste Strategy, which includes improved waste segregation, minimisation, and increased reuse programmes. This will lead to reductions in the road miles the waste travels, increases in the use of re-usable sharps bins, and furthers plans made towards the achievement of Net Zero Carbon from waste management.   NHS England has an ambition to expand existing walking aid refurbishment schemes. Arrangements for the return and reuse of walking aids are managed locally, and a number of NHS trusts already have local return and reuse schemes, with over 200 return sites now featured on the Recycle Now website. Further information is available at the following link:https://www.recyclenow.com/recycle-an-item/walking-aids

Health Services and Social Services: Staff

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to determine workforce requirements in the (a) health and (b) social care sectors in the context of (i) an ageing population and (ii) trends in the level of ill health in later life.

Andrew Stephenson: The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan recognises that healthcare need is growing and changing, driven by ageing, and increasing morbidity. The plan sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take, to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. It will put the workforce on a sustainable footing for the long term.The modelling NHS England has used in the plan is founded on data, evidence, and analysis. It looks at the projected demand for NHS staff and compares it with projected supply, taking into account anticipated changes in productivity, retention, and other factors. This leaves a gap between demand and supply. The plan then proposes how that gap should be filled. We have committed to refreshing the modelling that underpins the plan every two years, or in line with fiscal events.On social care, as set out in our strategy for the social care workforce in our People at The Heart of Care white paper in December 2021, responsibility for delivering social care is devolved to local authorities. Local government has a key role to play in supporting recruitment and retention in their areas, using their oversight of local systems to identify workforce shortages, and develop workforce plans.A new duty for the Care Quality Commission (CQC), to assess local authorities’ delivery of their adult social care duties, has gone live. As part of these assessments, the CQC will consider if local authorities understand their current and future workforce needs, and if councils are working in partnership with providers to develop, support, and promote a capable and effective care workforce. Integrated care systems also have a key role to play in ensuring joined-up workforce planning. They should be working with NHS providers, local authorities, and independent care providers, to ensure effective system-wide coordination of recruitment and development.

Ageing: Research

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has taken recent steps to commission research into (a) disease progression and (b) the intersection of comorbidities in the ageing population.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and research into Multiple Long-Term Conditions (MLTC) is a strategic priority for the NIHR. The NIHR funds significant research into disease progression and the intersection of comorbidities in older adults through its ongoing artificial intelligence for MLTC programme, that was established in 2021.

Department of Health and Social Care	: Equality

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many staff in their Department have job titles that include the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT and (f) race.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department currently has seven roles with job titles that include the words equality, diversity, inclusion, gender, LGBT and race. These roles sit within policy areas linked to supporting the Department’s work externally, and are not internally or HR focussed.

Drugs: Licensing

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had recent discussions with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on its targets to reduce its licensing backlog of generic and biosimilar medicine applications.

Andrew Stephenson: Ministers receive regular updates on the performance of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. The agency is taking significant steps to assess licensing applications within the shortest time possible. It is working to reduce timelines by bringing in additional resources and developing processes that will result in significantly improved response times, while protecting patient safety. These changes are already resulting in improvements, and monthly performance figures are published online.

Liraglutide

Patricia Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress her Department has made on tackling shortages and disruption to supplies of liraglutide for patients with type 2 diabetes.

Andrew Stephenson: Following intensive work with industry, the broad supply position for glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) in the United Kingdom has improved. However, global supply issues remain with specific medicines, including Victoza (liraglutide). We issued updated guidance to healthcare professionals in the form of a National Patient Safety Alert on the 3 January 2024 on how to manage patients requiring these medicines, with input from expert clinicians. We continue to work closely with manufacturers and others working in the supply chain to help ensure the continued supply of GLP-1 RAs for UK patients, and to resolve the remaining supply issues as quickly as possible, for example by asking suppliers to expedite deliveries.We know how distressing and frustrating medicine supply issues can be, and the Department will continue to help ensure that these critical medicines reach diabetes patients. If any patient is concerned about their treatment, they should discuss this with their clinician at the earliest opportunity.

Estradiol

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the supply of Estradot patches for women with menopausal symptoms.

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help resolve supply chain issues for Estradot patches; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU on such supplies.

Andrew Stephenson: There are over 70 hormone replacement therapy (HRT) products licensed for supply in the United Kingdom. There have been issues with the supply of a limited number of HRT products, primarily due to very sharp increases in demand, but the supply position has improved considerably over the last year, following intensive work with industry. We have held roundtables, and continue to do so, with suppliers, wholesalers, and community pharmacists to discuss the challenges they are facing, and what needs to be done to address them.Intermittent supply issues were affecting estradot patches, which resulted in the use of a Serious Shortage Protocol, to allow pharmacists to supply an alternative brand of estradiol patches where estradot patches were not available. However, the issues have now been resolved and supplies should be available. We are continuing to engage closely with the supplier to monitor the supply position and drive action.

Junior Doctors: Labour Turnover

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many junior doctors left the NHS workforce in each of the last five years.

Andrew Stephenson: NHS England publish data on the numbers of National Health Service (NHS) staff broken down by grade, who have left active service in NHS trusts and core organisations. This data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record (ESR), the HR system for the NHS. Data can be found here:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statisticsThe data includes staff employed by NHS trusts and integrated care boards, but excludes staff directly employed by general practitioner (GP) surgeries, local authorities, and other providers, such as community interest companies and private providers.The count of leavers includes staff leaving to work in GPs, local authorities, and private providers. It also includes those going on maternity leave, or career breaks. Each year staff move both ways, between NHS trusts and other health providers. This is particularly important to note for junior doctors, as data on leavers will include those moving as part of planned rotations and placements into GPs or other settings.

Medicine: Students

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the number of available medical school places in each of the last 10 years.

Andrew Stephenson: The Government controls the number of medical school places that it funds. The Office for Students (OfS) sets the maximum number of funded places for medical degrees, on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education. For 2023/24, the maximum number of funded places was set at 7,571, and it has been near this number since 2019. Each provider is allocated a number of these places but may take slightly fewer or more people than their allocated number, for example if exam results are unexpectedly good. For this reason, the target for funded places does not necessarily match actual intakes, though the difference is often not large. The OfS publishes the number of entrants to medical degrees in England each year. Numbers for 2020 and 2021 are high as a result of the Government’s temporary lifting of the cap on medical school places in England. The following table shows the number of entrants to medicine courses in England, each year from 2014 to 2023: YearEntrants20146,00020155,88020165,93020176,09520186,80020197,56520208,40520218,48520227,62520237,655Source: The Office for Students’ Medical and Dental Students Survey, from 2014 to 2023.Note: 2023 entrants are based on initial figures and may change. The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan published in June 2023 commits to doubling the number of medical school places, taking the total number of places up to 15,000 a year by 2031/32.We have accelerated this expansion by allocating 205 additional medical school places for the 2024/25 academic year. The process for allocating 350 additional places for the 2025/26 academic year is underway.This builds on the expansion of medical school places in England to 7,500 per year - a 25% increase - that the Government completed in 2020 and which delivered five new medical schools.

NHS Learning Support Fund: Pharmacy

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of enabling pharmacy students to utilise the NHS learning support fund.

Andrew Stephenson: There are no immediate plans to make changes to the Learning Support Fund scheme design. The Government keeps the funding arrangements for all healthcare students under close review. At all times the Government must strike a balance between the level of support students receive, and the need to make best use of public funds to deliver value for money.

St Peter's Hospital Maldon: Childbirth

Sir John Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many births took place in the Maternity Unit at St Peter's Hospital Maldon in each year since 2000.

Maria Caulfield: The following table shows the number of births each year since 2000 in the maternity units at St Peter’s Hospital Maldon:YearNumber of births20001932001187200216120031972004264200522620062332007252200827220093052010383201133720123262013252201424120152282016196201716720181472019165202015120211442022127202377TOTAL5231

Maternity Services: Ethnic Groups

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of maternity staff have completed cultural competence training in each NHS trust.

Maria Caulfield: This information is not held in the format requested.

Health Services: Procurement

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether they can publish the (a) members list and (b) terms of reference for the nine regional statutory joint committees responsible for commissioning specialised services that cover (i) North East, (ii) West Midlands, (iii) East Midlands, (iv) South West, (v) East, (vi) London, (vii) North West, (viii) Yorkshire and The Humber, and (ix) South East.

Helen Whately: In December 2023, the NHS England Board approved plans to delegate the commissioning of the same 59 specialised services to integrated care boards (ICBs), rather than joint committees, in the East, the Midlands, and the North West regions of England, from April 2024. Any relevant joint committees will have delegated responsibility for commissioning specialised services up until this point. More information about the plans is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/specialised-commissioning-2024-25-next-steps-with-delegation-to-integrated-care-boards/NHS England also approved plans for joint committees to commission appropriate specialised services in the South West, South East, London and the North East and Yorkshire regions of England for 2024/25. This will help support a smooth transition of commissioning responsibility by April 2025.The committees are in various stages of development, with some winding up for April 2024 and others becoming established to commission specialised services from April 2025. The Department does not currently plan to publish terms of reference for these committees. The attached document shows a list of joint committees and members, for the commissioning of delegated services.Annex to PQ12379 (docx, 26.5KB)

Blood: Contamination

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what psychological support is available for people (a) infected and (b) affected by contaminated blood and blood products in Luton South.

Maria Caulfield: Psychological support is available for those who are beneficiaries of the England Infected Blood Support Scheme (EIBSS) and their families. The EIBSS provides a grant of up to £900 a year for beneficiaries and family members to access counselling and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved talking therapies. In August 2022, this offer was expanded to enable beneficiaries to access funding for ongoing or longer-term treatment. Further information is available at the following link:https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/talking-therapy-support.A bespoke psychological support service for infected blood victims, commissioned by NHS England, is currently being developed, and is intended to go live in early summer 2024.

Blood: Contamination

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people who were (a) treated with contaminated blood products and (b) given contaminated blood transfusions by the NHS in (i) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (ii) Lincolnshire.

Maria Caulfield: The Department has not made an estimate of the number of people who were treated with contaminated blood products and given contaminated blood transfusions by the National Health Service, in South Holland and the Deepings constituency and Lincolnshire.

Blood: Contamination

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number of people who were (a) treated with contaminated blood products and (b) given contaminated blood transfusions by the NHS in Luton South constituency.

Maria Caulfield: The Department has not made an estimate of the number of people who were treated with contaminated blood products and given contaminated blood transfusions by the National Health Service in the Luton South constituency.

Blood: Contamination

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number of people who have died since being (a) treated with contaminated blood products and (b) given contaminated blood transfusions in Luton South constituency.

Maria Caulfield: The Department has not made an estimate on the number of people who have died since being treated with contaminated blood products and given contaminated blood transfusions, in the Luton South constituency.

Health Services: Essex

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she (a) has reviewed and (b) plans to review the (i) provision and (ii) location of (A) inpatient and (B) outpatient health services in Essex.

Andrew Stephenson: No formal reviews have been undertaken by the Department. Inpatient and outpatient health services in Essex are provided by the Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB), Suffolk and North East Essex ICB, and the Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB. Further information of specific service provision is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/system-and-organisational-oversight/system-directory/east-of-england-region/Local provision of services is determined by the ICBs, rather than directly by the Government, and decisions are made based on population need in the area. The Department is expanding diagnostic capacity across the National Health Service by rolling out more community diagnostic centres (CDCs), delivering vital tests, scans, and checks. With 154 CDCs open already, and up to 160 set to open by March 2025, these offer millions of patients the chance to access quicker, more convenient checks outside of hospitals, with capacity prioritised for cancer. Across all three ICBs in Essex, we have opened five CDCs in the past year, with another location approved by the Department.We are also increasing activity through dedicated and protected surgical hubs, focusing on providing high volume, low complexity surgery, as recommended by the Royal College of Surgeons of England. There are currently 100 elective surgical hubs that are operational across England, including the Braintree Community Hospital in Essex, as of February 2024. These surgical hubs will help separate elective care facilities from urgent and emergency care.

Christchurch Hospital

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when work on the Christchurch Hospital Macmillan Unit building project included in the New Hospital programme will begin.

Andrew Stephenson: As set out in the Trust's Full Business Case, it has been agreed that works at Christchurch Hospital, including those to enable the MacMillan palliative unit, are being funded and taken forward by the trust directly, in collaboration with the Macmillan Caring Locally Charity. The New Hospital Programme will be building a new hospital for Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust at Alumhurst Road as supported by the local and regional health system.

Prescription Drugs: Shortages

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish a strategy to (a) tackle critical medicines shortages and (b) help improve the resilience of the community pharmacy sector.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department has no plans to publish a strategy. There are around 14,000 medicines licensed for supply in the United Kingdom, and most are in good supply. However, the medicine supply chain is highly regulated, complex, and global, which means that there can sometimes be supply issues which affect the UK, along with other countries around the world. Medicine supply problems may be caused by several factors, including manufacturing difficulties, regulatory non-compliance, demand surges, problems with the supply of raw materials, and issues related to distribution of the product. We work with industry, NHS England, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the devolved administrations, and other stakeholders to address these issues and help ensure patients continue to have access to the treatments they need. Communications about supply issues requiring active management are issued to healthcare professionals, and guidance is provided to help them manage their patients, where necessary.Access to community pharmacies in England is good, with 80% of the population living within 20 minutes walking distance from a pharmacy, and twice as many pharmacies in the most deprived areas. We are funding pharmacies with £2.6 billion per year, and have invested up to an additional £645 million in the sector across this and next year, for the recently launched Pharmacy First service and the expansion of the existing Blood Pressure Check Service and Pharmacy Contraception Service. The contractual arrangements and funding for 2024/25 are being currently consulted on with Community Pharmacy England.

Breast Cancer: Screening

Taiwo Owatemi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Warwickshire, Solihull and Coventry Breast Screening Unit is taking as part of the breast screening improvement plan; what the timeline is for their delivery; and how much funding has been allocated for their delivery.

Andrew Stephenson: NHS England Midlands is the responsible commissioner for the NHS Breast Cancer Screening Programme delivered across the Warwickshire, Solihull, and Coventry locality. The Warwickshire, Solihull, and Coventry service is one of the largest breast screening services in England, inviting approximately 55,000 people for screening each year.NHS England Midlands has advised that for the breast screening improvement plan, work has begun on reviewing coverage for the Warwickshire, Solihull, and Coventry breast screening services. The service continues to collaborate with primary care practices to promote uptake for patients in low uptake areas, and staff facilitate local community events to educate on the importance of breast screening, for instance at the Godiva and Pride Festivals in Coventry.In 2024/25 the service will receive a contract value in excess of £3 million, to ensure that cancer is detected early through screening. The service has also received capital investment during the last two years, which has supported additional imaging equipment to increase overall screening capacity within the service and pathway.Work continues to ensure the current breast screening provision is improving, and once coverage has returned to pre-pandemic levels, NHS England Midlands hope to go further on ambitions to decrease inequity across all cancer screening programmes.

St Peter's Hospital Maldon

Sir John Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients received stroke rehabilitation inpatient care in St Peter's Hospital Maldon in each year since 2000.

Andrew Stephenson: Over the years, St Peter’s Hospital has provided valuable capacity for patients across Mid and South Essex to receive inpatient stroke rehabilitation in community beds. The volume of beds, and therefore patients treated on site, has changed over the years due to shifting demand and, in recent years, the impact of the pandemic.In 2022/23, 118 patients received inpatient stroke rehabilitation care at St Peter’s Hospital. However, there are currently no inpatient stroke rehabilitation beds at St Peter’s hospital in Maldon, as the 16 stroke rehabilitation beds that were on site were moved to Brentwood Community Hospital in October 2023, to ensure the safe provision of care through this winter.The current consultation being undertaken by Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board has set out options to increase community inpatient stroke rehabilitation capacity from 24 to 27, which would total 50 beds across the system. This increase is based on data that shows around 2,000 people in Mid and South Essex have a stroke each year, of which around 500 need a stay in a community hospital for specialist rehabilitation support.

St Peter's Hospital Maldon: Capital Investment

Sir John Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will detail the capital expenditure on St Peter's Hospital in Maldon in each year since 2000.

Sir John Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what work has been undertaken to (a) refurbish and (b) repair St Peter's Hospital in Maldon in each year since 2000.

Andrew Stephenson: This information is not held centrally, as the Department does not routinely track investments made to individual sites. It can however be confirmed that the trust that runs St Peter’s Hospital, Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, has received significant amounts of capital funding from national programmes in recent years, including: £20.4 million in accident and emergency funding across 2020/21 and 2021/22; £17.9 million from our Targeted Investment Fund in 2021/22 and 2022/23; and £7.2 million in community diagnostic centre funding in 2021/22 and 2022/23, for schemes within the trust as a whole.Furthermore, Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust’s Integrated Care Board (ICB), Mid and South Essex ICB, received £61 million in operational capital in 2023/24, and £182 million across the 2021 Spending Review, which it can use for capital projects and works. This funding is prioritised by the ICB, in accordance with local needs.

Ovarian Cancer: Health Education

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps to increase awareness of ovarian cancer symptoms.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department is taking steps to tackle regional variations in early diagnosis of ovarian cancer.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to increase early diagnosis of ovarian cancer.

Andrew Stephenson: NHS England is taking a wide range of activity to increase awareness and early diagnosis of, as well as tackle regional variations in, ovarian cancer. Since 2020 NHS England has run several Help Us Help You campaigns, that have included a focus on abdominal symptoms which, amongst other abdominal cancers, can be indicative of ovarian cancer. NHS England relaunched the Help Us Help You cancer campaign on the 8 January 2024, to encourage people to get in touch with their general practitioner if they notice, or are worried about, symptoms that could be cancer. The campaign address barriers to people coming forward with suspected signs of cancer in general, and is not specific to ovarian cancer. Raising awareness and improving early diagnosis of cancers, including ovarian cancer, remains a priority across all regions in England. NHS England is working towards the NHS Long Term Plan ambition of diagnosing 75% of stageable cancers at stage one and two by 2028. Achieving this will mean that, from 2028, around 55,000 more people each year will survive their cancer for at least five years after diagnosis. To help increase cancer diagnosis rates, as of February 2024, there are 154 community diagnostic centres (CDCs) open with over six million checks carried out, with the aim of having 160 CDCs open by March 2025. We also plan to transform the way the National Health Service provides elective care, by increasing activity at dedicated and protected surgical hubs. These will help separate elective care facilities from urgent and emergency care, including for ovarian cancer. At present, the surgical hubs are focusing on a number of specialities, including gynaecology. The NHS is improving pathways to get people diagnosed faster once they are referred, and is looking into alternative routes into the system, including non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways for patients who do not fit clearly into a single urgent cancer referral pathway, but who are at risk of being diagnosed with cancer. This will help support faster ovarian cancer diagnosis. 108 NSS pathways are currently operational, with more in development.

Hospices: Finance

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she (a) has made an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the report of the APPG for Hospice and End of Life care entitled Government funding for hospices, published in January 2024 and (b) plans to take steps in response to the findings in that report.

Helen Whately: The Department is already taking actions which will address many of the recommendations of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hospice and End of Life Care report.As part of the Health and Care Act 2022, the Government added palliative care services to the list of services that an integrated care board (ICB) must commission, which will ensure a more consistent national approach and support commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care.In July 2022, NHS England published statutory guidance and service specifications for commissioners on palliative and end of life care, setting out the considerations for ICBs in order to meet their legal duties. The guidance makes specific reference to commissioners defining how their services will meet population needs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.The majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services. However, we also recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, play in providing support to people at end of life, and their families. Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding hospices receive is dependent on many factors, including what other statutory services are available within the ICB footprint. Charitable hospices provide a range of services which go beyond that which statutory services are legally required to provide. Consequently, the funding arrangements reflect this.NHS England has developed a palliative and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative and end of life care needs of their local population, enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities and ensure that funding is distributed fairly, based on prevalence.Additionally, as of April 2024, NHS England will include palliative and end of life care in the list of topics for regular performance discussions between national and regional leads. These meetings will provide an additional mechanism for supporting ICBs to continue to improve palliative and end of life care for their local population.The Government have also provided additional funding to help deliver the one-off payments to eligible staff employed by non-NHS organisations, who employ their staff on dynamically linked Agenda for Change contracts. Organisations were able to apply for the funding and needed to show they had been negatively financially impacted by the pay deal, and that their staff are employed on dynamically linked Agenda for Change contracts.

NHS: Expenditure

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) her Department or (b) NHS England has issued instructions to Integrated Care Boards to freeze any uncommitted expenditure.

Helen Whately: NHS England asked integrated care systems in November 2023 to produce revised plans for the remainder of the financial year in order to address their financial challenges in 2023/24. The actions required were communicated in a letter, which is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/addressing-the-significant-financial-challenges-created-by-industrial-action-in-2023-24/

Physiotherapy

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of NHS physiotherapy appointments.

Helen Whately: There are no current plans to make an assessment.NHS England published its intermediate care framework for rehabilitation, reablement and recovery following hospital discharge in September 2023, to help ensure high quality care after hospital discharge. This framework is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/intermediate-care-framework-for-rehabilitation-reablement-and-recovery-following-hospital-discharge/

Hospices: Children

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of ring-fencing the block grant for children's hospices.

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of guaranteeing the children's hospice block grant for three years.

Helen Whately: No specific assessment has been made of the potential merits of ring-fencing the funding for children’s hospices, or of the potential merits of guaranteeing the children’s hospice funding for three years. Details of 2025/26 funding will, however, be confirmed in due course.We recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, play in the availability and delivery of high-quality, personalised palliative and end of life care for people of all ages, and their loved ones.As made clear in the Health and Care Act 2022, it is the statutory duty of integrated care boards (ICBs) to commission palliative and end of life care services in response to the needs of their population, including for children and young people.NHS England currently supports palliative and end of life care for children and young people through the Children and Young People’s Hospice Grant. Last year, NHS England confirmed that it will be renewing the funding for 2024/25, once again allocating £25 million of funding for children’s hospices, using the same prevalence-based allocation approach as in 2022/23 and 2023/24. This prevalence-based approach ensures funding matches local need.NHS England has worked closely with sector experts and sector representatives in establishing the current prevalence-based approach to deciding allocations, as well as in determining the proposed mechanism for continued funding in 2024/25.Funding in 2024/25 will be distributed via ICBs, in line with National Health Service devolution. All ICBs in England will be formally notified of the distribution method to be used very shortly. The Department and NHS England hope to be able to provide the greater clarity that the sector is seeking on this important funding stream to children’s hospices, in the coming weeks.

Department of Health and Social Care : Magazine Press

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding their Department (a) allocated for (b) spent on magazine subscriptions in each of the last three financial years.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department has paid for subscriptions to the following publications in the last three financial years:- print editions of all national daily newspapers together with online editions of the Telegraph, Times and Financial Times;- The New Statesman;- The Spectator;- Economist Nursing Times;- Private Eye;- The Voice;- Health Service Journal;- GP Online;- Pulse;- Health Policy Insight;- New England Journal of Medicine;- Journal of American Medicine;- Nature;- Bloomberg;- PR Week; and- I News. The cost of the subscriptions totalled approximately £7,700 per year in financial years 2020/21 and 2021/22, and precisely £7718.08 in 2022/23.

Defibrillators: Rural Areas

Helen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to increase access to defibrillators in rural communities.

Andrew Stephenson: The treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease is a priority for the Government. We want people to have the best chance of survival from cardiac arrest, and rapid intervention is central to improving outcomes. This is why the Government wants to increase the number of publicly accessible automated external defibrillators. The Government has therefore announced the Community Automated External Defibrillators (AED) Fund, with a £1 million investment that will increase the number of AEDs within England. We want to ensure AEDs are located where they are needed most. Applications that are submitted for funding are assessed to ensure that each AED is installed in areas where there is a clear need for the device, such as high footfall areas or rural locations with extended ambulance response times. Priority will also be given to applications that are considered a cardiac health hotspot, with high levels of deprivation and low numbers of AEDs within the local area.

NHS: Pay

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that the outcomes of applications for funding to cover one off lump sum payments for frontline NHS staff employed by social enterprises are decided by the end of the financial year.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department is working closely with NHS England to finalise the outcomes of the applications, and has committed to communicating these directly to the organisations, ahead of the end of the financial year.

Department for Business and Trade

Post Office: Profits

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to improve the profitability of the Post Office.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Government is clear that the Post Office should be a valuable social and economic asset for communities and businesses for years to come. To ensure the Post Office is fit for the future, the Government is engaging with stakeholders regarding the challenges facing the post office network and postmasters, resulting from the changing retail landscape and increased costs. ​We have provided over £2.5 billion in funding to support the Post Office network over the past decade and is providing a further £588 million for the Post Office between 2022 and 2025. This includes a £50 million annual subsidy to safeguard services in the uncommercial parts of the network.The Government also recognises that there are concerns about central costs, and we have been clear that Post Office must do more to cut central costs where possible.The Post Office network is a crucial component of the UK's long-term provision of cash and banking services. That is why we have encouraged Post Office to be ambitious in their negotiations with banks for the next iteration of the Banking Framework agreement to ensure that both Post Office and Postmasters receive proportionate remuneration for the vital services they are providing.

Digital Technology: Small Businesses

Matt Rodda: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to support small businesses to accelerate the adoption of digital tools to improve productivity, in the context of the closure of the Help to Grow: Digital scheme.

Kevin Hollinrake: Since the closure of the Help to Grow: Digital scheme in 2023 we have been considering how best to help small businesses to adopt basic digital technologies. We know digital tools can improve firm-level productivity and a businesses’ ability to grow. This is why in the Autumn Statement we announced that we would be setting up an industry-led taskforce to rapidly explore how best to support Small and Medium-sized Enterprises with adoption of digital technology. We will be launching the taskforce shortly The Government continues to support small businesses in other ways, such as through the Help to Grow: Management programme and the Government-backed British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans. These schemes help business leaders to start and grow their businesses.

Help to Grow Schemes

Matt Rodda: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Help to Grow: Digital scheme in (a) Wales, (b) Scotland, (c) Northern Ireland and (d) England.

Matt Rodda: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment she has made of the level of take up of the Help to Grow: Digital scheme.

Kevin Hollinrake: At the time of the closure of the scheme, 1,507 applications had been made for a discount voucher through the Help to Grow: Digital website. A full assessment of the take up, regional breakdown and effectiveness of the Help to Grow: Digital scheme was published and can be found in the evaluation report on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/help-to-grow-digital-evaluation-report

Department for Business and Trade: Advertising

Pat McFadden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much funding her Department and its predecessor Department (a) budgeted for and (b) spent on advertising in each of the last three financial years.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Department buys advertising media through its media buying agency Omnicom Media Group UK Ltd. Advertising is used to promote investment and UK exports. The Department’s general ledger records spend with Omnicom Media Group for the last three years for which figures are available as follows: 2020/21: £15,102,407.212021/22: £11,890,853.202022/23: £13,124,598.26 Advertising is part of the Department’s wider marketing strategy. Budgeting is carried out at the marketing category level, so no records are held on sums specifically budgeted for advertising. These figures relate to the Department’s predecessor department, the Department for International Trade.

Help to Grow Schemes

Matt Rodda: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will publish the advice given to ministers that informed decisions on eligibility criteria for the Help to Grow: Digital scheme.

Matt Rodda: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the oral evidence taken before the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee on 17 May 2022, HC 207, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of amending the eligibility for the Help to grow: Digital scheme.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Government closed the Help to Grow: Digital programme in February 2023. An assessment of the eligibility criteria can be found in the Help to Grow: Digital scheme evaluation report on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/help-to-grow-digital-evaluation-report While we do not routinely publish advice, decisions were informed by evidence and the scheme design was kept under review. Eligibility changes were made in Summer 2022 which responded to oral evidence, which included widening the criteria to include businesses of 1+ employee(s).

Chemicals: Russia

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department is taking steps to help ensure that exports from the chemical and biological materials sector do no inadvertently support Russia's (a) military and (b) biochemical capabilities.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: We have sanctioned the export of all chemicals and biochemicals of concern to Russia.This is in addition to our existing export controls, which already restrict the export of certain chemicals, pathogens and toxins.Sanctions and export controls are impacting Russia’s economy and depriving its military of key components, but we are not complacent.My department has recently announced the creation of the Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation (OTSI) to strengthen enforcement and support industry compliance.We are also working closely with Ukraine and international partners to coordinate efforts to thwart Russia’s efforts to circumvent sanctions to gain access to technology to support its invasion.

Dual Use Goods and Technologies: Russia

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she is taking steps to help educate (a) businesses and (b) academics about the (i) risks and (ii) responsibilities associated with exporting dual-use (A) research, (B) technology and (C) educational materials that could be used (1) by Russia and (2) in military contexts.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Government has a robust process in place to ensure that sanctions measures are effective. There are legal obligations on all businesses in the UK and all UK citizens to comply with the sanctions regime. HMG will not hesitate to act if it finds evidence that any firms are not complying.Officials in the Export Control Joint Unit, in collaboration with the Research Collaboration Advice Team in DSIT - which advises research institutions on national security risks linked to international collaboration - regularly engage with relevant stakeholders.We expect UK businesses and academic institutions to undertake due diligence to ensure that the end destination of their products is not Russia.

Department for Business and Trade: Apprentices

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much her Department (a) paid in apprenticeship levy fees and (b) spent from its apprenticeship levy funds between September 2021 and August 2023.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Following a machinery of government in February 2023, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and the Department for International trade were replaced by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and the Department for Business and Trade.As the Department for Business and Trade did not exist between September 2021 and January 2023, we are unable to provide data on payment towards the apprenticeship levy and spend of levy funds for this period.Since the creation of the Department for Business and Trade the apprenticeship levy account has remained shared between the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and the Department for Business and Trade. Therefore, the Department for Business and Trade is unable to accurately provide the amount paid in apprenticeship levy fees between February 2023 and August 2023 and is unable to accurately provide the amount spent from the levy over the same period.

Business: Ethnic Groups and Women

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department is taking steps to increase the share of Angel’s funding received by women and ethnic minority individuals.

Kevin Hollinrake: My department leads the Investing in Women Code, a voluntary commitment for providers of capital including Angel investment syndicates. The Code has attracted over 250 signatories, including over 40% of UK Business Angel Association (UKBAA) members. The Code publishes its findings annually. These show that signatories are more likely to invest in women entrepreneurs than the wider market.Code signatories have also provided data on their investments in entrepreneurs from an ethnic minority background. These figures were analysed by the UKBAA and were published in November 2023, in collaboration with the APPG for Ethnic Minority Business Owners.

New Businesses: Women

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department has taken to implement the recommendations of The Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship on increasing the number of female angel investors in the UK.

Kevin Hollinrake: The ‘Women backing Women’ campaign was launched under the auspices of the Rose Review via the Angel Investment Taskforce, led by the UK Business Angels Association.This campaign seeks to support women to become angel investors across all four nations in the UK, and has engaged thousands of new and prospective female angel investors to help unlock new source of early-stage funding for female founders across the UK. Further measures to increase the number of women choosing to become angel investors will be taken during 2024.

Department for Business and Trade: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department made payments to (a) P&O Ferries and (b) DP World (i) for Departmental business travel and (ii) on Government Procurement Cards in the period between 17 March 2022 and February 2024.

Greg Hands: Neither the former Department for International Trade nor the Department for Business & Trade have made any payments of the types requested to P&O Ferries or DP World.

Electric Bicycles: Public Consultation

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department plans to make representations to the Department for Transport's open consultation entitled Smarter regulation: proposed changes to legislation for electrically assisted pedal cycles, published on 29 February 2024.

Kevin Hollinrake: As part of a cross-Whitehall approach my Department, through the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), works closely with the Home Office and Department for Transport (DfT) to ensure activity in relation to e-bikes and lithium-ion batteries is aligned. OPSS has worked with DfT during the development of the electrically-assisted pedal cycles consultation and will continue to collaborate as the consultation progresses.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Islamophobia

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to help tackle anti-Muslim hatred.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many meetings he has held on anti-Muslim hatred since his appointment.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what community organisations he has had discussions with with on the issue of anti-Muslim hatred since his appointment.

Lee Rowley: I refer the Hon Member to my answer to the Questions UIN 16017 and Question UIN 16019 on 1 March 2024.

Islamophobia

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of adopting the APPG on British Muslims’ definition of Islamophobia.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether it remains his policy to adopt a definition of Islamophobia.

Lee Rowley: I refer the Hon Member to my answer to Questions UIN 10238 on 23 January 2024.

Antisemitism and Islamophobia

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to tackle the rise in islamophobia and antisemitism following the events since 7 October 2023 in Israel and Gaza.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to support victims of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism following the events since 7 October 2023 in Israel and Gaza.

Felicity Buchan: I refer the Hon Member to my oral answer of 4 March 2024 (Official Report, HC Volume 746, Column 628).

Absent Voting

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2024 to Question 14837 on Absent Voting, how are postal ballot sweeps are undertaken; and what guidance is provided to Returning Officers.

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2024 to Question 14837 on Absent Voting, whether postal ballot sweeps will be undertaken at local delivery offices on the evening of (a) 2 May 2024 and (b) General Election polling day.

Simon Hoare: Royal Mail conducts ‘sweeps’ of all primary (and where requested, secondary) mail centres on the evening of polling day by identifying and pulling out postal vote envelopes, which are specially marked to support this process. All incoming mail collected from post-boxes goes via the delivery offices and should be at the mail centres later that day, before sweeps take place. Any postal vote envelopes pulled out at mail centres are provided directly to the relevant local returning officers. Royal Mail liaises directly with each local elections office regarding the organisation of postal ballot sweeps.Guidance on working with Royal Mail and other mail delivery partners is provided by the Electoral Commission and is available on their website (https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/guidance-returning-officers-administering-local-government-elections-england/planning-election/managing-contractors-and-suppliers/working-mail-delivery-partners).Sweeps for Police and Crime Commissioner and UK Parliamentary elections are paid for centrally from the Consolidated Fund and are planned for the Police and Crime Commissioner and local elections on 2 May 2024 and for the next UK Parliamentary general election.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Publishing

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what reports and guidance their Department has produced in the last three financial years; and how much was spent on their (a) printing and (b) distribution.

Simon Hoare: The requested information is not centrally held.

Parking: Private Sector

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing regulatory scrutiny of private parking companies.

Jacob Young: The Government is aware of concerns regarding the practices of some private parking operators. Following the introduction of the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019, the Government is taking action to improve the regulation of the private parking industry.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Official Gifts and Official Hospitality

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what (a) hospitality and (b) gifts in kind Ministers in his Department received in the last 12 months.

Simon Hoare: In line with the practice of successive administrations, such details are published online.

Travellers

Bell Ribeiro-Addy: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will bring forward a Race Action Plan to tackle (a) systemic inequalities affecting and (b) discrimination faced by (i) Romani, (ii) Roma and (iii) Irish Travellers in the (A) education, (B) economic, (C) criminal justice and (D) health sectors.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to ensure that the lived experiences of Romani, Roma and Irish Travellers are taken fully into account in consideration of policy affecting them.

Lee Rowley: The Government takes its responsibilities and statutory obligations to all our communities seriously. Simultaneously we emphasise the importance of governing on behalf of everyone, irrespective of background, race, ethnicity or any other characteristics.Constant attempts to atomise public policy making will neither be successful nor help the communities they erroneously purport to assist.

Building Regulations

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of time taken for the Building Safety Regulator to process building assessment certificate applications; and what steps his Department is taking to improve those times.

Lee Rowley: As yet, no building assessment certification applications have been submitted or assessed. From April, the Building Safety Regulator will begin the process of requesting building assessment certificate applications to be submitted.The department has been working closely with the Regulator to ensure the processes are in place so that building assessment certificate applications can be processed in a timely manner.

Planning Permission: Appeals

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information his Department holds on the (a) total and (b) average cost of processing planning appeals per appeal type in each of the last three financial years.

Lee Rowley: The information requested is published as part of the Planning Inspectorate’s Annual Report and Accounts and can be found at the following links:20/21 Planning_Inspectorate_ARA_2020-21_FINAL.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)21/22 Planning_Inspectorate_Annual_Report_and_Accounts_2021-22.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)22/23 Planning_Inspectorate_Annual_Report_and_Accounts_2022-23.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Ministry of Defence

Defence: Helicopters

Dame Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average vehicle availability rate was for (a) Chinook, (b) Wildcat Mk1, (c) Wildcat Mk2 and (d) Merlin HM2 in each year since 2018.

James Cartlidge: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 20 December 2023 to Question 6474 to the hon. Member for Easington (Mr Grahame Morris).Military Aircraft: Helicopters (docx, 27.7KB)

Firing Ranges: Death and Injuries

Dame Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people suffered (a) death and (b) injury on his Departments firing ranges in each year since 2018.

Dr Andrew Murrison: Since 2018, there have been two fatalities involving UK Armed Forces personnel on firing ranges. These occurred in 2018 and 2021. During the same period 1,429 people sustained injuries on firing ranges. The table below provides a breakdown of injuries by year between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2023: Table 1: Number of people injured at firing ranges broken down by year.'Table 1 lists all injuries linked to firing range activities. These injuries range from superficial e.g. abrasions, lacerations, physical strains, falls to more severe e.g. gunshot wounds, hearing loss.' Calendar YearTotalAll1,42920181582019160202016820212432022[1]3322023368[1] The annual increases in 2022 and 2023 may be due to improved reporting levels due to a new reporting system being introduced.

Guided Weapons

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure that the UK has adequate ground-based surface-to-air defence capabilities to defend itself from potential medium- and long-range missile attacks.

James Cartlidge: To complement the Air Defence already provided by the RAF’s Typhoon Force, Defence has committed funds in year to significantly enhance its Counter-Uncrewed Air Systems capabilities. The British Army, through its Land Ground Based Air Defence (GBAD) Programme, plans to spend more than £3 billion over the next ten years modernising its GBAD, with substantial investment in scaling, extending, and integrating its Air Defence capability. Similarly, the Secretary of State has recently announced a £405 million upgrade to the Royal Navy’s Sea Viper Air Defence System that will enable it to defeat ballistic missile threats. Further detail on Defence’s plan for protecting the United Kingdom against attack from the skies can be found in the Defence Command Paper Refresh which was published on 18 July 2023.

Ministry of Defence: Apprentices

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department (a) paid in apprenticeship levy fees and (b) spent from its apprenticeship levy funds between September 2021 and August 2023.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Department has paid £68 million in apprenticeship levy fees from September 2021 to March 2023, this includes the 10% Government top up. Expenditure between April 2023 to August 2023 is subject to auditing and will be released in the Ministry of Defence financial year 2023-24 Annual Report and Accounts. As the cost of delivering apprenticeship training as part of professional skills development is linked to the overall training budgets it is not possible to extract the specific apprenticeship spend.

Armed Forces: Injuries

Dame Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many military personnel reported non-freezing cold injuries in each year since 2018.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The number of UK Armed Forces personnel with a record for a Non-Freezing Cold Injury (NFCI) in each year since 2018 is presented in the table below: YearNumber201840620193342020263202135420223022023421 The data is compiled from the following medical, safety and casualty reporting systems to provide the most complete picture possible: Defence Medical Information Capability ProgrammeMOD Health and Safety reporting systemsJoint Casualty and Compassionate Centre Notification of Casualty systemDefence Patient Tracking System These systems have been searched for coded information or text entries relating to NFCI: information entered as free text is not included.

Ministry of Defence: Magazine Press

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much funding his Department (a) allocated for and (b) spent on magazine subscriptions in each of the last three financial years.

Dr Andrew Murrison: A full departmental response could only be provided at disproportionate cost. The total cost of magazine subscriptions spend that was readily available for the last three years is £4,032.04.

Armed Forces: LGBT+ People

Angus Brendan MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether (a) written and (b) photographic materials taken from people investigated for homosexuality in the armed forces (i) are still held by his Department, (ii) were returned to those investigated and (iii) were destroyed.

Dr Andrew Murrison: Service police investigative records are routinely and lawfully destroyed in line with data protection legislation and Defence policy; once they have no investigative value there is no basis to retain them, particularly as they contain sensitive personal information. Furthermore, the destruction of investigative records concerning decriminalised sexual offences in line with Defence policy means that most investigative records relating to LGBT ‘offences’ have been destroyed.

Middle East: International Law

Zarah Sultana: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 19 January 2024 to Question 9950 on Yemen: Military Intervention and to the Answer of 20 February 2024 to Question 13836 on Gaza: Israel, for what reason his Department maintains a tracker database of alleged instances of breaches or violations of international humanitarian law by Saudi Arabia in Yemen but does not maintain a comparable database of alleged instances of breaches or violations of International Humanitarian Law by Israel in Gaza.

James Heappey: The Ministry of Defence’s “tracker" listing alleged International Humanitarian Law (IHL) violations during the Saudi Led Coalition's Air Campaign in Yemen, does not cover the actions of the Israeli Defence Force in Gaza. The UK Government continues to assess Israel's commitment and capability to comply with International Humanitarian Law. Those assessments are supported by a detailed evidence base, including analysis of the conflict, reporting from NGOs, international bodies and partner countries, statements and reports by the Israeli Government and military representatives and Israel's track record of compliance.

Czechia: Ammunition

Sarah Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has had recent discussions with his Czech counterpart on that country's initiative to procure artillery ammunition for Ukraine.

James Heappey: The UK and Czechia are closely coordinated in providing military equipment to Ukraine. UK officials are in contact with Czech colleagues on their latest proposal concerning artillery procurement, while continuing UK-led artillery ammunition procurement initiatives.

Department for Transport

Department for Transport: Publishing

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what reports and guidance their Department has produced in the last three financial years; and how much was spent on their (a) printing and (b) distribution.

Anthony Browne: DfT does not have a central repository for all the reports and guidance it has produced and the cost of printing and distribution.

Driving Tests: Waiting Lists

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average waiting time is for a driving test from DVSA in (a) England, (b) each region and (c) each driving centre.

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the total number of drivers in England waiting for a driving test from DVSA was as of 1 March 2024.

Guy Opperman: As of 4 March 2024, there were 514,894 car practical driving tests booked, and 133,555 driving tests available within the 24-week booking window. The average waiting time for a car practical driving test in England is 17.8 weeks.The attached spreadsheet shows the average waiting time for a car practical driving test, per region, and at each test centre, as of 4 March 2024.The Secretary of State for Transport has decided, going forward, to regularly publish this information to show progress in tackling the testing backlog that has arisen since Covid.DVSA Average waiting time (xlsx, 14.5KB)

Road Traffic Control: Greater London

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department has allocated to (a) London boroughs and (b) the Mayor of London for traffic management schemes in each of the last two years.

Guy Opperman: The Government has not provided funding to TfL or London boroughs for traffic management programmes.

Department for Transport: Apprentices

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department (a) paid in apprenticeship levy fees and (b) spent from its apprenticeship levy funds between September 2021 and August 2023.

Anthony Browne: a) £2,100,000b) £910,851

Transport: Lincolnshire

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what grants were provided by his Department to (a) South Holland District Council and (b) South Kesteven District Council in (i) 2022-23 and (ii) 2023-24; and how much was awarded in each grant.

Guy Opperman: Across financial years (FY) 2022-23 and FY 2023-24, South Holland District Council were awarded £67,500 On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) grant funding for the installation of 9 public electric vehicle charging devices. £50,625 (75%) of this grant was paid to the council in FY 2022-23 and the remaining £16,875 (25%) was paid in FY 2023-24. In addition to this, Breckland and South Holland District Councils, under a previous joint working agreement, were awarded £39,500 for the installation of 6 public charging devices. This grant was paid in full to South Holland District Council in FY 2022-23. South Kesteven District Council were not awarded any grant funding from the Department for Transport in FY 2022-23 or FY 2023-24.

Blue Badge Scheme

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Blue Badges were issued in England in 2023.

Guy Opperman: There were 1.14 million badges issued between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023, an increase of 101,000 badges (9.7%) on the previous year. These figures include badges issued followed reapplications from existing badge holders.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Equality

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff in his Department have job titles which include the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT and (f) race.

Mark Spencer: Defra has a specialist HR Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Team made up of 11 full-time equivalent posts. In addition, the Farming and Countryside Programme has two posts which include EDI in their job titles. All roles are internally focused. The Government is auditing the cost-effectiveness of all activities that support the EDI of the workforce, through the review of EDI spending announced last June. As stated in the Autumn Statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Minister for the Cabinet Office will be outlining the final proposals in response to the review in due course.

Treasury

Sanctions: Russia

Abena Oppong-Asare: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he has taken with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that UK-based companies are fully complying with the sanctions imposed on (a) Russian oil and (b) other Russian exports.

Bim Afolami: The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OSFI) and The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) have published extensive guidance to support industry in complying with sanctions measures against Russia.OFSI takes a proactive enforcement approach and is currently undertaking a number of investigations into suspected breaches of the oil price cap, using their legal powers to request information and working closely with our international partners in the G7+ Coalition.HM Revenue & Customs is responsible for enforcing export controls on strategic goods and sanctions and investigating potential breaches of those controls.HMRC enforcement mechanisms are robust and act as a deterrent against those considering circumventing sanctions measures. They take breaches of sanctions seriously and undertake a preliminary investigation into all credible allegations of an offence. They have improved their capacity to investigate and enforce sanctions and are developing new capabilities to enforce sanctions on services under criminal law. Non-compliance with UK sanctions is a serious offence and punishable through large financial penalties or criminal prosecution.

Tax Avoidance: Fixed Penalties

Dame Margaret Hodge: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many penalties have been issued by HMRC against UK-based entities that facilitate tax avoidance schemes involving non-resident promoters since the coming into force of schedule 13 of the Finance Act 2022; and what the total value of those penalties is.

Nigel Huddleston: As a result of the action the Government has taken to clamp down on marketed tax avoidance, the estimated tax gap from marketed avoidance sold primarily to individuals has fallen from an estimated £1.5 billion in 2005-06 to £0.5 billion in 2021-22.The primary purpose of the penalty is to deter UK based entities from acting on behalf of offshore promoters and so make it more difficult for these promoters to sell their schemes in the UK; however, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has a wide-ranging approach to tackling promoters of tax avoidance.For example, as of 31 December 2023, HMRC has published the names of 59 promoters, 23 directors and details of 64 tax avoidance schemes. Publishing this information supports taxpayers in identifying tax avoidance schemes so they can steer clear of or exit them.Furthermore, Finance Act 2024 has introduced tougher consequences for promoters of tax avoidance. This includes a new criminal offence to strengthen the deterrent to promoting tax avoidance, making it clear promoters must stop promoting these schemes, and a power enabling HMRC to act more quickly to disqualify directors of companies involved in tax avoidance.

Taxation: Appeals

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many tax litigation cases HMRC has taken to the Court of Appeal in each of the last five years.

Nigel Huddleston: HMRC publishes data relating to decided appeals across all tribunals and courts in its annual report and accounts which can be found at www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrcs-annual-report-and-accounts.

Childcare: Tax Allowances

Darren Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many tax free childcare accounts were set up within the seven working day timeframe communicated to parents during the application process in each of the last six months.

Nigel Huddleston: The quarterly and monthly Tax-Free Childcare accounts data, available on the GOV.UK, could serve as a useful reference:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tax-free-childcare-statistics-december-2023https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tax-free-childcare-quarterly-statistics

Exports: Russia

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to (a) monitor and (b) penalise potential attempts to evade sanctions by exporting to countries that may act as conduits to Russia.

Nigel Huddleston: HMRC is responsible for enforcing and monitoring controls on strategic exports and sanctioned goods and investigating potential breaches of those controls.There are extensive trade sanctions measures in place and the UK Government monitors the effectiveness of all its sanctions, including those made through the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.All sanctions designations, legislation and structures are kept under constant review to ensure that they are as effective as possible in meeting the UK’s foreign policy priorities. This means coming down hard on sanctions evaders; closing loopholes; and working with our international partners.HM Revenue and Customs existing enforcement mechanisms are robust and act as a deterrent against those considering circumventing sanctions measures. We take breaches of sanctions seriously and undertake a preliminary investigation into all credible allegations of an offence. Non-compliance with UK sanctions is a serious offence and punishable through large financial penalties or criminal prosecution.

Treasury: Magazine Press

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding their Department (a) allocated for (b) spent on magazine subscriptions in each of the last three financial years.

Gareth Davies: HMT’s expenditure on these areas is published as part of the departments on-going support of the transparency reporting programme. These can be viewed using the links below . https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/gpc-spend https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/25000-spend https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder

Export Controls: Russia

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to strengthen the enforcement of export controls (a) in general and (b) to halt the potential transfer of British goods to Russia via third countries.

Nigel Huddleston: HMRC is responsible for enforcing export controls on strategic goods and sanctions and investigating potential breaches of those controls. There are extensive trade measures in place and the UK Government monitors the effectiveness of all its sanctions, including those made through the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.We are committed to tackling sanctions circumvention, ensuring that sanctions are robustly enforced; potential breaches are investigated, and appropriate action taken. Departments from across HMG are working together, and with UK companies, to ensure that sanctions are enforced.Internationally, we are working closely with our US and EU sanctions coordinators to raise circumvention with several countries to highlight these risks and support them to enforce sanctions effectively.For information, on 22 May 2023, HMRC and DBT issued a Notice to Exporters outlining trade sanctions circumvention - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/notice-to-exporters-202308-russia-sanctions-trade-sanctions-circumvention

Taxation: Richmond Park

Sarah Olney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) basic, (b) higher and (c) additional rate taxpayers there were in Richmond Park constituency in the most recent financial year for which data is available.

Nigel Huddleston: HMRC’s Personal Income Statistics by tax year contain a constituency-level breakdown of taxpayer numbers for the tax year 2021 to 2022. This is the latest outturn data available and can be found in Table 3.15 below:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65de1b17cf7eb10015f58036/Table_3.15_2122.odsThe parliamentary constituency breakdowns published in these statistics are consistent with those used at elections since 2010 and do not contain the new boundaries that will be in place at the next election.Further breakdowns of this information are not routinely published.

Sterling: Exchange Rates

Grahame Morris: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to increase the relative value of the Sterling to ease cost of living pressures.

Bim Afolami: The government does not have a preferred level for sterling, or other financial market variables, and has not intervened for the purposes of influencing the sterling exchange rate since 1992.Over the 2022-23 and 2023-24 financial years, the Government has provided £96bn of cost of living support to households – that’s an average of £3400 per household. The Government remains committed to improving living standards and building a more prosperous future.

Business Rates: Energy Performance Certificates

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing business rate relief to premises which are transitioning to reached energy performance certification levels of C and above.

Nigel Huddleston: At Autumn Budget 2021, the government announced new business rates support for green technology to support the decarbonisation of buildings. This means that eligible plant and machinery used in onsite renewable energy generation and electricity storage are now exempt from business rates. This came into effect on 1 April 2022, and will last until 2035. Furthermore, to incentivise businesses investing in their properties, from 1 April 2024, no business will face higher business rates bills as a result of qualifying improvements to a property they occupy for 12 months.

Treasury: Equality

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff in their Department have job titles that include the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT and (f) race.

Gareth Davies: The Government is auditing the cost-effectiveness of all activities that support the equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) of the workforce, through the review of EDI spending announced last June. As stated in the Autumn Statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Minister for Cabinet Office will be outlining the final proposals in response to the review in due course.There are two members of staff in HM Treasury with the words (a) equality/equalities, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT or (f) race included in their job title.

Home Office

Visas: National Security

Robert Jenrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any UK visa holders have had their visas revoked on the grounds of (a) national security and (b) being non-conducive to the public good since 6 December 2023.

Robert Jenrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 29 February 2024 to Question 15646 on Visas: National Security, for what reason he will not publish the data.

Tom Pursglove: We do not routinely publish data on UK visa holders who have had visas revoked on the grounds of (a) national security and (b) being non-conducive to the public good.

Home Office: Magazine Press

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding his Department (a) allocated for and (b) spent on magazine subscriptions in each of the last three financial years.

Chris Philp: Determining the amount allocated for and spent by the Home Office on magazine subscriptions is not readily available from our finance system.The Home Office does not have expenditure categories in our financial system that would allow us to quickly identify spending at this level of granularity.To try to identify the information under scope would require a manual review of multiple expenditures categories and transactions, over multiple business areas.This could only be done at disproportionate cost.

Home Office: Apprentices

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much his Department (a) paid in apprenticeship levy fees and (b) spent from its apprenticeship levy funds between September 2021 and August 2023.

Chris Philp: Between September 2021 and August 2023 the Home Department has (a) paid £14,547,652 in apprenticeship levy fees, this includes the 10% government top up, and (b) has spent £4,039,846 from apprenticeship levy funds.

Portakabin: Contracts

Dame Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the contract agreed by his Department with Portakabin, published on 16 February 2024, reference CF-0358300D58000000L5A4EAK, what the spaces required are as set out in the Statement of Requirements v.1 point 4; and if he will publish an unredacted version of the document entitled Final 02 Offer Document Rev C.

Chris Philp: An unredacted version of the sections in the document in question will be published in due course.The Home Office ensures that all accommodation is safe, fit for purpose and meets all regulatory requirements.

Community Policing: Training

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of mandating additional training for police officers on community tensions following the events since 7 October 2023 in Israel and Gaza.

Chris Philp: We are grateful to police forces across the country for the steps they have taken to manage protests and protect and reassure our communities.The police are operationally independent. As part of the national policing curriculum set by the College of Policing, all officers receive training on topics including engaging with the community to maximise community cohesion, trust and confidence; protecting the community; and tackling hate crime. This is bolstered by refresher training to maintain and enhance knowledge. The College of Policing also publish operational guidance for the police, known as ‘Authorised Professional Practice’ (APP), on how to tackle different types of crime and incidents, including hate crime.As a result of the conflict, all forces now have established tension monitoring processes, working in partnership with community safety and voluntary partners to enable action to be taken to diffuse community tensions at the earliest possible stage. The National Police Chiefs’ Council has also provided awareness briefings to forces relating to the conflict which have been developed following consultation with key community stakeholders including Community Security Trust and Tell MAMA.

Retail Trade: Crimes of Violence

Sir Gavin Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to support shop workers who are victims of retail crime.

Chris Philp: The Government recognises the significant impact crime can have, not only on businesses but also the wider community and consumers. I have been clear I expect a zero-tolerance approach to retail crime and shoplifting and have recently taken significant steps to improve the police response.In October 2023, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) published the Retail Crime Action Plan. Through this Plan, all forces across England and Wales have committed to prioritise police attendance at the scene where violence has been used towards shop staff, where an offender has been detained by store security, and where evidence needs to be secured and can only be done by police personnel. Additionally, where CCTV or other digital images are secured, the police will run this through the Police National Database to aid efforts to identify prolific offenders or potentially dangerous individuals.This builds on the NPCC commitment that police forces across England and Wales will follow up all crimes where there is actionable evidence and the chance of identifying an offender.In 2022, we introduced a statutory aggravating factor for assault against those who are serving the public. Section 156 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 means the public facing nature of a victim’s role will be considered an aggravating factor when it comes to sentencing for assault offences, allowing the court to give a longer sentence within the statutory maximum for the offence.These legislative and operational changes will go a long way to provide a better response to victims. We are continuing to work closely with retail businesses, security representatives, trade associations and policing through the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) to ensure the response to retail crime is as robust as it can be for the victims of this crime.

Community Policing: Lincolnshire

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy ofneighbourhoodpolicing levels in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

Chris Philp: Decisions about how neighbourhood policing is delivered, including the size, composition and prioritisation of neighbourhood policing teams are for operationally independent Chief Constables. They are best placed to use their local knowledge and experience to serve local communities. Democratically elected PCCs, or mayors with these functions, are responsible for holding Chief Constables to account for their running of the force. As set out at the National Policing Board on 31 January, we do however, expect Chief Constables and PCCs to put neighbourhoods at the heart of local policing plans, and to ensure abstractions of officers from core policing roles are minimised.This government is giving policing the resources it needs to police local communities and fight crime. We have delivered on our commitment to recruit 20,000 additional police officers and there are now over 149,000 officers in England and Wales, higher than the previous peak before the Police Uplift Programme, in March 2010.As a result of our investment, as at 31 March 2023, Lincolnshire Constabulary recruited 189 additional officers against a total three-year allocation of 166 officers. As at 31 March 2023, in Lincolnshire, there were 652 full time equivalent police officers employed in local policing roles, an increase of 7.7% (46 FTE) on the previous year when there were 605 FTE police officers in local policing roles. Those working within local policing roles in Lincolnshire accounted for 56.9% of all officers as at 31 March 2023.

Lincolnshire Police: Staff

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of police officers served in Lincolnshire in (a) February 2014 and (b) February 2024.

Chris Philp: The Home Office does not hold information on police officers in post as February 2014 and February 2024.The Home Office collects and publishes data on the size of the police workforce in England and Wales, broken down by Police Force Area (PFA), on a bi-annual basis in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.The data are collected as a snapshot at 31 March and 30 September each year only. Data on the number of police officers in Lincolnshire, as at 31 March each year, from 2007 to 2023, on a full-time equivalent and headcount basis, can be found in the ‘Police Workforce Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1172892/open-data-table-police-workforce-260723.ods.Whilst the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin is the key measure of the size of the police workforce, as part of the Police Uplift Programme, between October 2019 and March 2023, the Home Office published data quarterly on the number of officers (headcount terms only) in England and Wales, broken down by PFA and month. Data can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-officer-uplift-statistics.

Deportation: Aviation

Dame Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what was the cost to the public purse of cancelled removal flights in each year since 2015.

Michael Tomlinson: We are determined to remove those with no right to remain in the UK – including dangerous foreign criminals.All spending is carefully scrutinised to make sure that every pound of taxpayers’ money is spent in the most effective way.The Government’s efforts to facilitate entirely legitimate and legal returns of people who have entered the UK illegally are often frustrated by late legal challenges submitted hours before the flight.The information requested would require a manual reconciliation of the individual cases against financial records to see if a cancellation cost was levied. This could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Domestic Abuse: Northern Ireland

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has taken recent steps with the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland on tackling domestic abuse in Northern Ireland.

Laura Farris: As the question rightly implies, responsibility for tackling domestic abuse is devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive.But just as domestic abuse is a society wide issue, so is it an issue for the whole of the UK. The jurisdictions routinely share progress, ideas and collaborate on projects.This includes the current pilot of a codeword scheme that provides a discreet way for victims of domestic abuse to signal that they need emergency help in 19 Jobcentres across the UK including 4 Jobs and Benefit Offices in Northern Ireland.

Offenders: Foreign Nationals

Dame Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Foreign National Offenders living in the community were classed as absconders in each year since 2010; and of those, how many were classified as being of (a) highest risk, (b) high risk and (c) medium harm.

Michael Tomlinson: We do not routinely publish the information that you have requested. Obtaining the information would require a manual search of each individual case, which could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

Offenders: Foreign Nationals

Dame Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Foreign National Offenders were (a) on bail and subject to electronic monitoring and (b) actively monitored in each year since 2016.

Michael Tomlinson: The information requested is not available from published statistics, however the Ministry of Justice does publish statistics which includes information on the number of individuals fitted with electronic monitoring devices. This can be found on the link: Electronic Monitoring Statistics Publication - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Asylum: Housing

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason his Department has reduced the amount of support given to people living in asylum accommodation which provides all their meals to £8.86 per week.

Tom Pursglove: The level of the allowance given to those supported under section 95 and section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 is reviewed each year to ensure it covers an asylum seeker’s essential living needs.In setting the rates, we have utilised an alternative methodology to determine the costs of essential needs, which uses a ‘disaggregated CPI’ (Consumer Prices Index). The methodology has been designed to offer a more accurate measure of changes in the price of items to cover essential living needs. As previous rate increases have been made using CPI rates, this has led to an overestimate of the cost of essential needs for an individual in catered accommodation, therefore, using the methodology set out above, the catered rates have been slightly reduced.Individuals accommodated in hotels and other catered sites are also provided 3 meals a day, snacks, water, toiletries, and some other services, in addition to their weekly allowance. Additional support is also available to pregnant women, young children, and individuals who provide evidence of exceptional needs.

UK Border Force: Vetting

Dame Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people who applied to join Border Force failed (a) vetting and (b) additional security checks vetting in each year since 2015.

Tom Pursglove: We are not able to share any data on vetting or additional security check failures as this is never released at a department level as it would provide insights into security controls.

UK Border Force: Alcoholic Drinks and Drugs

Dame Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Border Force personnel failed drug and alcohol tests in each year since 2015.

Tom Pursglove: Border Force launched its own drug and alcohol testing policy on 15th January 2024. To date there have been no failed tests under this policy.

UK Border Force: Standards

Dame Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of the recommendations included in the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s report: An inspection of Border Force insider threat have yet to be been implemented; and if will he list them.

Tom Pursglove: 2 of the 8 recommendations that were either partially or fully accepted have been fully implemented, work is progressing on the other 6 recommendations.

UK Border Force: Standards

Dame Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times has the IOPC carried out investigations into Border Force staff in each year since 2015; and if he will publish a list of each instance, broken down by the circumstances as listed in 3.18 of the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration's Report: An Inspection of Border Force Insider Threat.

Tom Pursglove: The IOPC have not themselves conducted any independent investigations into Border Force staff in that period.

UK Border Force: Corruption

Dame Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many referrals were made to the Border Force Joint Anti-Corruption Intelligence Team in each year since 2015.

Tom Pursglove: As the public rightly expect, we demand the highest standards from our Border Force officers and have measures in place to prevent and tackle corruption.Allegations and referrals received by Border Force Joint Anti-Corruption Intelligence Team since it was formed in 2018: 201810820191212020118202113020221272023204

Asylum: Rwanda

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to publish guidelines that protect LGBT+ refugees in relation to her proposals to offshore refugees to Rwanda.

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an assessment of whether Rwanda is a safe country to which to send LGBT+ refugees.

Michael Tomlinson: Protection from discrimination is enshrined within the Rwandan constitution. Rwanda does not criminalise or discriminate against sexual orientation in either law or policy.The published country information notes (CIN) for Rwanda have been updated and can be found at the following link: Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill: supporting evidence - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), along with other supporting evidence relating to the safety of Rwanda.

Visas: Gaza

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the barriers to people in Gaza who are seeking to join their family members in the UK reaching their closest visa application centre in Egypt.

Tom Pursglove: Immediate family members of British citizens, individuals with protection status, and those settled in the UK, who wish to come and live in the UK and do not have a current UK visa, can apply under one of the existing Family visa routes.The Home Office is working closely with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in supporting family members of British nationals evacuated from Gaza who require a visa, signposting the necessary steps and expediting appointments at the Visa Application Centre (VAC). VACs in the region, such as Egypt, Jordan and Turkey, are open and offering a full service.In the vast majority of circumstances, the UK requires biometrics to be taken as part of an application; this is vital so we can conduct checks on the person’s identity and suitability to come to the UK. Biometrics, in the form of fingerprints and facial images, underpin the current UK immigration system to support identity assurance and suitability checks on foreign nationals who are subject to immigration control.Applicants who are at risk of embarking on an unsafe journey must provide evidence they need to make an urgent journey to a VAC that would be particularly unsafe for them, and they cannot delay their journey until later or use alternative routes.When considering a pre-determination or an excusal of the requirement for an applicant to enrol their biometrics request under the Unsafe Journey’s policy, decision-makers must refer to the Biometric Enrolment and the Unsafe Journey’s guidance.

Palestinians: Refugees

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to provide safe and legal entry routes for people in Gaza seeking to join family members in the UK.

Tom Pursglove: The UK Government is monitoring the situation in Israel and Gaza closely to ensure that it is able to respond appropriately. British citizens and those with settled status in the UK, together with their foreign national dependants, may come to the UK provided that they have valid travel documents and existing permission to enter or remain in the UK; or are non-visa nationals. They must also pass appropriate security checks. The Government allows individuals with protection status in the UK to sponsor their partner or children to stay with, or join, them here through our refugee family reunion policy, provided they formed part of the family unit before the sponsor fled their country of origin to seek protection. There are additional safe and legal routes for people to come to the UK should they wish to join family members here, work, or study. They would need to meet the requirements of the relevant Immigration Rule under which they were applying to qualify for a visa. The Home Office has not considered establishing a separate resettlement route for Palestinians to come to the UK. Since 2015, over half a million people have been offered safe and legal routes into the UK. Our approach is considered in the round, rather than on a crisis-by-crisis basis. UK Visas and Immigration is working closely with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in supporting family members of British nationals evacuated from Gaza who require a visa, signposting the necessary steps and expediting appointments at the Visa Application Centre.

Visas: Skilled Workers

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of Skilled Worker visas were issued to people classified as new entrants eligible for employment at reduced minimum salary thresholds in the most recent 12 months for which data is available.

Tom Pursglove: The Home Office publishes data on sponsored work visas by occupation in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on work visas granted, by occupation, are published in table Occ_D02 of the sponsored work visas by occupation and industry dataset. Applications classified as ‘new entrants’ form a subset of this dataset. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relate to 2023 Q4.Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.

Migrants: Health Services

Sir Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 26 February 2024 to Question 13206 on Migrants: Health Services, whether applicants who applied for entry clearance under paragraph 319X of the Immigration Rules before 12 April 2023 pay the Immigration Health Surcharge if their application is processed after that date.

Tom Pursglove: Appendix Child Joining a Non-Parent Relative, also known as Appendix CNP, allows for extended family with protection status in the UK to sponsor children to join them where there are serious and compelling circumstances. This can be in situations where a child has no parents or relatives to care for them, or where the parents or relatives in their own country cannot safely care for the child.Simplification of the Immigration Rules, by inserting Appendix CNP on 12 April 2023, did not impose different Immigration Health Surcharge requirements, but replicated the existing provisions contained under paragraph 319X.There were no policy changes made to the requirements of this route and it was solely formatting changes in line with the wider simplification format. Decision makers have been instructed to consider all applications made before and after 12 April 2023 under Appendix CNP. This means that all applications submitted prior to, and after, 12 April 2023 must pay the Immigration Health Surcharge. The requirement to do so may be waived where the sponsor is determined to be destitute, but it is in the best interests of the child to come to the UK.

Asylum: Northern Ireland

Claire Hanna: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for his policies of the report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration entitled An inspection of contingency asylum accommodation for asylum seeking families with children in Northern Ireland, published on 29 February 2024.

Tom Pursglove: The former Independent Chief Inspector of Borders Immigration has identified several areas for improvement and made 5 recommendations. The Home Office has fully accepted two and partially accepted three recommendations.Work is already underway to take forward the recommendations in this report to ensure that we continue to meet not only our statutory obligations in Northern Ireland, but also to support the delivery of the Home Office’s broader aims in the UK, in response to the findings.

Asylum: Northern Ireland

Claire Hanna: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will have discussions with the Northern Ireland administration on the (a) social, (b) physical and (c) mental health needs of asylum seekers in Northern Ireland.

Tom Pursglove: The safety and wellbeing of asylum seekers that we support is of paramount importance to the Home Office. The Asylum Accommodation Support Contract (AASC) Statement of Requirements below gives a detailed breakdown of all of the services to be undertaken by our accommodation providers and to the standards we expect. Full details of our policies: http://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2018-1112/AASC_-_Schedule_2_-_Statement_of_Requirements.pdf.The Home Office continues to engage with Northern Ireland government departments to progress agreements to ensure continued delivery for service users in Northern Ireland.

Visas: Aberdeen

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential economic impact on Aberdeen City of the restrictions to student visa routes implemented on t January 2024.

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential economic impact on the University of Aberdeen of the restrictions to student visa routes implemented on 1 January 2024.

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential economic impact on Robert Gordon University of the restrictions to student visa routes implemented on 1 January 2024.

Tom Pursglove: The Government will continue to strike the balance between reducing overall net migration, protecting the economic benefits that overseas students bring to the UK and ensuring that businesses have the skills they need. Those affected by changes made to the Student visa will predominantly be dependants of students who make a more limited contribution to the economy than students or those on work visas, minimising the impact on UK growth.We have been successful in delivering our International Education Strategy goal of hosting 600,000 students per year by 2030, earlier than planned, and expect universities to be able to adapt to reduced dependant numbers.

Immigration: Appeals

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans implement the decision of case HU/00830/2021, served to his Department on 26 June 2023.

Tom Pursglove: We do not comment on individual cases.

Religious Sects: Abuse

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the offence of coercive or controlling behaviour as set out in section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 to include abuse in (a) cults and (b) sects.

Laura Farris: Controlling or Coercive Behaviour within an intimate or family relationship was made a criminal offence under the Serious Crime Act 2015. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 removed the requirement for the parties to be ‘living together’ for the offence to occur. The Government has no plans to extend these provisions beyond intimate and family relationships. The government will continue to work with the police and criminal justice agencies to ensure the law is used to maximum effect and that the new guidance is effective in identifying, investigating and evidencing CCB.

Visas: Graduates

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his oral statement of 4 December 2023 entitled Legal Migration, Official Report, column 41, for what reason the review of the graduate visa route has not been started.

Tom Pursglove: The Government recognises the importance of reviewing the Graduate route, in line with the Home Secretary’s commitment of 4 December 2023.We will commission the Migration Advisory Committee to undertake this review at the earliest opportunity.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Fossil Fuels

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to paragraph II. (A.) 28 (d) of the First global stocktake agreed at COP28 on 13 December 2023, what steps her Department is taking to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems.

Andrew Bowie: The UK has over-achieved against the first, second, and third carbon budgets. The transitions set out in the Net Zero Strategy and the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan keep us on track to meet Carbon Budgets 4, 5 and 6, our 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution, and net zero by 2050. The Government will continue to use Contracts for Difference to grow renewables’ share of electricity generation which has already moved from less than 7% in 2010 to more than 40% today. Use of coal in electricity generation will be ceased by the end of this year - having been nearly 40% in 2012.

Electricity Generation: Offshore Industry

Dr Thérèse Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, (a) how many and (b) which companies applied to be part of an Offshore Coordination Support Scheme pilot.

Graham Stuart: The Offshore Coordination Support Scheme initially received five applications, three of which were removed by developers at the Down-Selection Point where more than one application had been submitted for the same project. Following an in-depth Value for Money and eligibility assessment, the Government allocated funding to a consortium of North Falls Offshore Wind Farm, Five Estuaries Offshore Wind Farm and Sea Link (National Grid Electricity Transmission).

Insulation: Lancashire

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to reduce the incidence of circulatory and respiratory diseases as a result of poor insulation in (a) Preston and (b) Lancashire.

Amanda Solloway: Insulation is the most common and cost-effective means of improving energy efficiency in people’s homes. Installers under current government schemes must be registered with TrustMark and comply with Publicly Available Specification 2035, which adopts a whole house approach to ensure appropriate ventilation when retrofit work is being carried out. This minimises the risks of unintended consequences such as mould and damp. Installers must also be PAS 2030 certified. Should a consumer and a TrustMark registered business have a dispute about the installation which cannot be resolved through their own resolution mechanism then TrustMark provides a further dispute resolution process.

Offshore Industry: Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent estimate her Department has made of the combined annual greenhouse gas emissions from new oil and gas fields approved between October 2023 and January 2024.

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of North Sea oil and gas reserves when considering whether to grant new oil and gas licence areas.

Graham Stuart: Emissions from UK oil and gas extraction are accounted for in our legally-binding carbon budgets. Projected future emissions from all licensing rounds are incorporated into the offshore sector’s North Sea Transition Deal commitments. The sector’s progress against these targets is monitored by the North Sea Transition Authority. ‘Scope 3’ emissions from the burning of oil and gas are accounted for in the country in which they are used, in line with guidance from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Emissions will be reduced by reducing our consumption of fossil fuels, not by placing restrictions on our oil and gas industry.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Software

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how much funding his Department has (a) budgeted for and (b) spent on software updates to legacy computer systems in each of the last three financial years.

David Rutley: The majority of FCDO IT is delivered through strategic commercial partners, as a managed service and it is not possible to breakdown the components that relate to support of legacy software. We continue to work with these suppliers to drive value for money in providing these services alongside ensuring we are aligning to advancements in technology.

Occupied Territories: Politics and Government

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what diplomatic steps his Department is taking to help ensure political stability in the Occupied Palestinian Territories following the resignation of Mohammad Shtayyeh.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The Palestinian Authority (PA) has an important long-term role to play. We must work with our allies to provide serious, practical and enduring support needed to bolster the PA. We already provide technical and practical support and are ready to do more. The PA must also take much needed steps on reform, including setting out a pathway to democratic progress.Just as the PA must act, so must Israel. This means releasing frozen funds, halting settlement expansion and holding to account those responsible for extremist settler violence.We are looking at what more we can do, including providing economic support to the PA. We have already moved to ban those responsible for violence in the West Bank from the UK.We have taken further steps to hold those to account who undermine the steps to peace in the West Bank. Earlier this month, the Foreign Secretary announced new sanctions designations against four extremist Israeli settlers who have violently attacked Palestinians in the West Bank.

Gaza: Israel

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent discussions he has held with his Israeli counterpart on the Israeli’s Government’s plan for evacuating Gaza civilians from Rafah.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: We are deeply concerned about the prospect of a military offensive in Rafah. Over half of Gaza's population are sheltering in the area, and the Rafah crossing is vital to ensure aid can reach the people who so desperately need it.The immediate priority must be a humanitarian pause in the fighting, which is the best route to secure the safe release of hostages and significantly step up the aid reaching Gaza. We want that pause to lead to a sustainable ceasefire without a return to further fighting.That remains the focus of all our diplomatic effort, and the Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister have reiterated these messages in our contacts with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other senior Israeli political leaders.

Occupied Territories: Aid Workers

Claire Hanna: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will have discussions with his Israeli counterparts on ensuring that foreign humanitarian aid workers are granted visas to carry out humanitarian aid work in Gaza and the West Bank.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: Palestinian civilians are facing a devastating and growing humanitarian crisis.We need a humanitarian pause now to allow humanitarian actors and Gazans to operate and move safely and enable hostages to be released.Among other things, we need Israel to ensure effective systems to guarantee the safety of aid convoys, humanitarian operations and IDP returns, and facilitate access.We also need Israel to ensure the UN has the people, vehicles, equipment and fuel to distribute aid safely across Gaza. This includes issuing visas.

Russia: Sanctions

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what discussions he has had with his international counterparts on standardising measures to prevent the circumvention of sanctions against Russia.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: Preventing circumvention is a priority for UK ministers and officials who routinely work in close coordination with G7 members and allies. Our collective response to circumvention has included the joint publication of a list of Common High Priority goods critical to Russia's military-industrial complex and the introduction of the Oil Price Cap. We continue to deliver joint outreach to third countries and coordinated packages of sanctions that include targets in third countries that are enabling Russia to sustain its war machine. The most recent package was on 22 February. The Government will continue to coordinate with allies on circumvention issues.

Diplomatic Service

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department has a policy on engagement between British diplomats at the Embassy and High Commission level at global British missions and Official Opposition hon. Members.

David Rutley: The FCDO policy on engagement between parliamentarians and officials in our overseas Posts and in the UK sets out that all engagement must adhere to the principle of political impartiality, remain factual and focused only on current government policy, and follow correct clearance processes as outlined in the Civil Service code and Directory of civil service guidance, which can be found at GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Russia: Oil

Abena Oppong-Asare: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the impact of the current sanctions regime on the flow of Russian oil into the UK; and whether he has plans to strengthen those measures.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK, alongside the G7 and Australia, has banned the import of Russian oil and oil products. We have also created the Oil Price Cap which prohibits UK and G7+ firms from providing services facilitating the maritime transport of Russian oil and oil products to third countries above that Cap. Importers must provide proof of origin to relevant UK enforcement authorities, to demonstrate that goods are not of Russian origin.We continue to monitor the efficacy of our oil-related sanctions and, in coordination with our partners and will take further action if needed.

Afghanistan: Refugees

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what support the Government is providing to people who have fled from Afghanistan to (a) Iran, (b) Pakistan and (c) other third countries.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: Since April 2021, the UK has disbursed over £600 million in aid to Afghanistan. This includes £17 million to support humanitarian organisations in Afghanistan's neighbouring countries. This has assisted Afghan migrants and asylum seekers moving across borders, and refugee and host communities in those countries.We continue to monitor the situation. For those Afghan nationals eligible under ARAP (Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy) and ACRS (Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme) Pathway 3, the UK Government continues to provide discretionary support to those in Iran, Pakistan, and other third countries - this includes accommodation, food and medical care.

Occupied Territories: Human Rights

Dan Carden: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his Department's policies of the report by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights entitled Human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the obligation to ensure accountability and justice, published on 23 February 2024.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: We note this report.The Government is clear that all parties must act within International Humanitarian Law.We have repeatedly condemned the 7 October attack against Israel by Hamas, a heinous act of terrorism. We have been clear that they must release all hostages, that their capacity to launch attacks against Israel must be removed, and that they must no longer be in charge of Gaza. These are some of the vital elements for a lasting peace.We also want to see Israel take greater care to limit its operations to military targets and avoid harming civilians and destroying homes. As the occupying power in Gaza, Israel also has to ensure that humanitarian aid-including food, water and shelter-is available to people in Gaza. Israel must also take meaningful steps to hold those responsible for extremist settler violence to account. We regularly review advice about Israel's capability and commitment to IHL, and act in accordance with that advice.We are calling for an immediate pause to get aid in and hostages out, then progress towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire, without a return to destruction, fighting and loss of life.

Israel: Arms Trade

Dan Carden: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, pursuant to the Answer of 26 February 2024 to Question 15734 on Israel: Arms Trade, how many arms export licences have been assessed since 7 October 2023.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The Department for Business and Trade will publish licensing statistics, including for Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, in line with its usual process.The Government takes its defence export responsibilities extremely seriously and operates some of the most robust export controls in the world. All applications for export licences are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria. All licences are kept under careful and continual review as standard and we are able to suspend, refuse or revoke licences as circumstances require. We can and do respond quickly and flexibly to changing international circumstances. The Government continues to monitor closely the situation in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Magazine Press

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how much funding their Department (a) allocated for (b) spent on magazine subscriptions in each of the last three financial years.

David Rutley: The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office does not hold separate financial data on magazine subscriptions as we do not allocate budget to that level of granularity. Many decisions are made by the UK's 281 embassies and diplomatic posts overseas or by individual departments in the UK. As a result, comprehensive information on individual magazine purchasing across the organisation is not centrally recorded and disaggregating this information would incur disproportionate cost.

Nigeria: Military Aid

Paul Girvan: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had recent discussions with his counterparts in Nigeria on the training of Nigerian security forces to help (a) reduce and (b) prevent anti-Christian violence.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: Rising insecurity in Nigeria has affected communities of all faiths, including Christians. UK Government officials and I regularly raise freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), including the impact of insecurity on communities and the need to bring perpetrators to justice, with the Nigerian Government. In February, I met the Nigerian Minister of State for Police Affairs, where I emphasised the UK's commitment to helping Nigeria tackle the root causes of conflict and instability. During the UK/ Nigeria Security and Defence Partnership dialogue in February, we agreed to enhance the existing cooperation in a number of areas, including training of security forces and conflict management.

Mozambique: Religious Freedom

Ms Marie Rimmer: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of religious freedom in Mozambique; and if he will hold discussions with his counterparts in that country on religious freedom.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: Article 54 of the Constitution of Mozambique provides for the right to practice religion freely and prohibits discrimination based on religion. This is generally upheld in practice but there have been some reports of Mozambican authorities not upholding the constitution. In May 2023, President Nyusi of Mozambique and I discussed UK support for the Government of Mozambique's response to IS-affiliated attacks carried out on civilians in Northern Mozambique. The UK is committed to defending Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) around the world. We work multilaterally and bilaterally to promote FoRB, and it remains an important priority for our work in Africa.

Chad and Sudan: Humanitarian Aid

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the impact of the halting of cross-border humanitarian operations on (a) the delivery of UK aid to Sudanese refugees in Chad and (b) those displaced within Sudan.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK condemns in the strongest terms the decision of the de facto authorities to stop humanitarian personnel and supplies from entering Sudan from Chad. The UK will do all we can to press for this further serious restriction on humanitarian access to be urgently lifted. On 27 February, the UK called the UN Security Council to convene for a closed consultation in response to this issue. We used this opportunity to condemn the decision and called for the re-instatement of permission for humanitarian supplies and workers to cross from Chad as well as for crossline access from Port Sudan into areas of Sudan under control of the Rapid Support Forces. We are currently urgently reviewing UKAid that may be affected to ensure our aid can still reach those in need. Given further increased risk of famine in Darfur as a result of this decision, we have also been urging the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to make a formal warning of the risk of famine in Sudan, through the issuance of a White Note under UNSC Resolution 2417.

Attorney General

Israel: Palestinians

Dan Carden: To ask the Attorney General, what discussions she had with her (a) Israeli and (b) Palestinian counterparts on compliance with international humanitarian law during her visit to the Middle East in February 2024.

Victoria Prentis: I visited Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories between 14 and 16 February 2024. In Israel, I met with the Israeli Attorney General, lawyers for the Israeli Defence Force, and the President of the Supreme Court. In the West Bank, I met with the Palestinian Attorney General and the Prime Minister.I held frank discussions in which I emphasised the importance of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) being respected, civilians protected, and detainees being held in compliance with the Geneva Conventions.The UK Government continues to call for IHL to be respected and for civilians to be protected.

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Publishing

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what reports and guidance their Department and its predecessor Departments produced in the last three financial years; and how much was spent on their (a) printing and (b) distribution.

Andrew Griffith: The requested information is not centrally held, and complying with this request would incur a disproportionate cost to the department. Reports and guidance that the Department has published can be found on gov.uk

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Apprentices

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much her Department (a) paid in apprenticeship levy fees and (b) spent from its apprenticeship levy funds between September 2021 and August 2023.

Andrew Griffith: Following a machinery of government in February 2023, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy was replaced by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and the Department for Business and Trade.As the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology did not exist between September 2021 and January 2023, we are unable to provide data on payment towards the apprenticeship levy and spend of levy funds for this period.Since the creation of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology the apprenticeship levy account has remained shared between the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and the Department for Business and Trade.Therefore, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is unable to accurately provide the amount paid in apprenticeship levy fees between February 2023 and August 2023 and is unable to accurately provide the amount spent from the levy over the same period.

Research: Finance

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of setting a target for GDP invested in research and development.

Andrew Griffith: In 2017, the Government committed to a target of increasing UK economy-wide investment in R&D to 2.4% of GDP by 2027, and 3% in the longer-term. Last year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) updated its methodology for capturing R&D performed in small businesses and higher education institutions throughout the UK. This has not yet been incorporated into calculations of GDP, and so an official estimate of UK R&D expenditure as a proportion of GDP under the new methodology is not yet available. However, on this revised basis, DSIT estimates R&D investment would have been between 2.8% and 2.9% of GDP for 2021. Government remains committed to public R&D expenditure reaching £20bn for 24/25, a record level.

Innovation and Research: Trade Agreements

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she is having discussions with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on including research and innovation into future trade deals.

Andrew Griffith: DSIT and DBT work together to ensure the impact of research and innovation on trade flows is accounted for by including ‘Innovation Chapters’ in the UK’s Free Trade Agreements (FTA). The UK agreed the world’s first innovation chapter in our FTA with Australia in 2021. Future FTAs will maintain this momentum to ensure trade in innovative products and services can thrive.

Research: International Cooperation

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to encourage research collaborations across (a) the Horizon Europe programme and (b) globally.

Andrew Griffith: The Government is committed to restoring the UK’s position as a partner of choice in Horizon Europe. The Government is undertaking a series of actions to ensure that UK businesses and researchers feel supported to engage with Horizon Europe and lead consortia. This includes a series of roadshow events around the country, pump-priming schemes and a largescale marketing campaign. The Government launched the International Science Partnership Fund in December 2022. ISPF will have up to £337 million this spending review period, allowing UK researchers and innovators to collaborate with international partners on multidisciplinary projects. The Government also continues to fund the global Science and Innovation Network of over 130 officers in 65 locations around the world to actively build and facilitate science, technology and innovation collaborations of value to the UK.

Research

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to integrate research opportunities to maximise research capacity.

Andrew Griffith: Since publication of the R&D People and Culture Strategy, the Government has been working with the R&D sector to integrate research opportunities and to maximise research capacity. To deliver the New Deal for Postgraduate Research, and as part of its Collective Talent Funding, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is currently reviewing its provision for collaborative doctoral training, working with stakeholders inside and outside of academia to integrate postgraduate research opportunities. Alongside this, UKRI has increased the minimum stipend to ensure the UK’s offer remains internationally competitive and attractive to the full range of potential students seeking to pursue a R&D career in the UK.

Skilled Workers: Research

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what criteria she uses to assess the impact that research funding has on future skills required across the economy.

Andrew Griffith: As set out in the Science and Technology Framework, the Government is committed to, and delivering on, its ambition to create an agile and responsive skills system, which delivers the skills needed to support a world-class workforce in STEM sectors and drive economic growth.We will continue to track our progress through a range of metrics and identify new ways to evaluate and evidence the impact of our science and technology system, including the impact of research funding for skills.

Department for Education

Academies: Sports

Clive Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 29 February 2024 to Question 15463 on Academies: Sports, what steps her Department takes to monitor compliance by academy trusts with her Department's conditions of consent for the sale of publicly funded playing field land.

Damian Hinds: In addition to the requirement for an academy trust’s Accounting Officer to sign and return an acknowledgement letter, the department is considering measures to monitor compliance of conditions by academy trusts and other Responsible Bodies. Measures under consideration include carrying out spot checks on cases, contacting academy trusts directly for confirmation that the conditions have been met and asking trusts to notify the department once they have been met.

Special Educational Needs: Codes of Practice

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an estimate of how many schools are non-compliant with paragraphs 6.81 of the SEND Code of Practice, published in January 2015.

David Johnston: The department expects all schools to comply with paragraph 6.81 of the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Code of Practice.As part of the department's work to implement the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, the department is exploring whether the expectations about the contents of the special educational needs information report could be developed further to improve transparency.

Higher Education: Social Mobility

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to encourage collaboration between colleges and universities to (a) widen participation in tertiary education and (b) promote social mobility.

Robert Halfon: The department is investing in Institutes of Technology (IoT). IoTs are prestigious, high-quality education providers that are created through innovative collaborations that bring together the best of existing further education (FE) colleges and higher education (HE) providers with local employers. To date the IoT Network comprises 77 colleges, 35 HE providers and 99 employers. By offering a range of specialised courses, from Higher Technical Qualifications to apprenticeships, IoTs empower students to develop the practical skills and knowledge required to excel in key sectors such as engineering, healthcare digital technology and manufacturing. FE and HE Providers across the country already collaborate at local levels to deliver education and training, ensuring learner and employer needs are met. Some of these partnerships are formal, longstanding arrangements for colleges to deliver degrees but less formal arrangements with specific courses in FE occurring to ensure progression for those who wish to go into HE. In Plymouth, City College is working with Plymouth Marjon University and the University of Plymouth to offer foundation degrees, higher national certificates and higher national diplomas, as well as traditional degrees. Collaborative working forms a significant part of the department’s HE access and participation reforms, which were launched in 2021. As part of these the department has tasked the Office for Students to strongly encourage universities to work with schools and colleges to drive up standards and encourage aspiration and attainment. The department wants to see universities stepping up to support students through the paths that benefit them the most, including through apprenticeships, higher technical qualifications, and vocational education as well as degrees. The department is aware that diversifying modes of study can be an important method of broadening access and participation. HE providers have been strongly encouraged to set themselves ambitious, measurable targets to significantly increase the proportion of students on higher and degree apprenticeships, Level 4 and Level 5 courses and part time study. The department is also providing £40 million over the next two years to support degree apprenticeship providers to expand and help more people access this provision. Uni Connect, which the department is funding at £30 million for the 2023/24 academic year, brings together partnerships of universities, colleges and other local organisations to offer activities, advice and information on the benefits and realities of going to university or college.

Education: Lincolnshire

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse was for  educational grants provided to (a) South Holland District Council and (b) South Kesteven District Council in (i) 2022-23 and (ii) 2023-24.

Damian Hinds: The department does not make any grants directs to South Holland District Council or South Kesteven District Council.The department is able to provide the schools National Funding Formula (NFF) allocations for schools in the South Holland and District Council and South Kesteven District Council for 2022/23 and 2023/24. Other funding allocations are not available broken down to the level of district councils.NFF allocations for schools in the areas of South Holland District Council and South Kesteven District Council for 2022/23 and 2023/24 can be found in the attached tables. This covers mainstream schools funding only. The schools NFF determines school revenue funding for all mainstream schools in England, although schools’ actual allocations are based on local authorities’ local funding formulae. District council figures are based on an aggregate of schools’ NFF allocations.15839_NFF_Allocations (xlsx, 18.3KB)

Students: Cost of Living

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support students with the cost of living.

Robert Halfon: The department has frozen maximum tuition fees for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years to deliver better value for students. By the 2024/25 academic year, maximum fees will have been frozen for 7 years. The government has continued to increase maximum loans and grants for living and other costs each year. Maximum support has been increased by 2.8% for the current 2023/24 academic year, with a further 2.5% increase announced for 2024/25. Students awarded a loan for living costs for the 2023/24 academic year that is lower than the maximum, and whose household income for the tax year 2023/24 has dropped by at least 15% compared to the income provided for their original assessment can apply for their entitlement to be reassessed. Decisions on student finance have had to be taken to ensure the system remains financially sustainable and the costs of HE are shared fairly between students and taxpayers, not all of whom have benefited from going to university. The government recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year and that are impacting students. The department has already made £276 million of student premium and mental health funding available for the 2023/24 academic year to support successful outcomes for students including disadvantaged students. The department is making a further £10 million of one-off support available to support student mental health and hardship funding. This funding will complement the help universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship and hardship support schemes. Further the department is investing hundreds of millions of pounds in additional funding over the three-year period from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to support high-quality teaching and facilities including in science and engineering, subjects that support the NHS, and degree apprenticeships. This includes the largest increase in government funding for the HE sector to support students and teaching in over a decade. That is why the department has asked the Office for Students (OfS) to maintain student premium and mental health funding for the 2023/24 financial year at the same levels as the previous year and to ensure providers are aware they can draw on the Student Premium to support students in financial hardship. The department will continue to liaise with the OfS on the impacts of cost-of-living pressures. Between 2022/23 to 2024/25, government will have provided support worth £104 billion, an average of £3,700 per household, to help families throughout the UK with the cost-of-living including to meet increased household energy costs. This will have eased some of the pressure on family budgets and so will in turn enabled many families to provide additional support to their children in HE to help them meet increased living costs.

Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has issued guidance for schools on identifying foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) in pupils; and if she will take steps to increase awareness of FASD among teachers.

David Johnston: Through delivery of the department’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision improvement plan, published in March 2023, the department will establish a single national system that delivers for every child and young person with SEND, so that they enjoy their childhood, achieve good outcomes, and are well prepared for adulthood and employment.Pupils at school with medical conditions should be properly supported so that they have full access to education. In 2014, the government introduced a new duty on schools to support pupils with all medical conditions and has published statutory guidance intended to help governing bodies meet their legal responsibilities. This guidance sets out the arrangements they will be expected to make, based on good practice. Schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with medical conditions and should have policies and processes in place to ensure these can be well managed.The government recognises that foetal alcohol spectrum disorder can have a significant impact on the early year’s development of children and their life chances. As a result, schools must use their best endeavours to make sure a child or young person gets the special educational provision they need, this includes monitoring the progress of pupils regularly and putting support in place where needed, including arranging diagnostic tests where appropriate.

Alternative Education and Special Educational Needs

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help support local authorities that have an increasing number of children requiring (a) education, health and care plans, (b) specialist services and (c) alternative provision.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to take steps to provide additional funding for SEND placements in alternative provision.

David Johnston: High needs funding supports local authorities with the costs of provision for the increasing number of children with Education, Health and Care plans, those who require specialist services and those in alternative provision (AP), including children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) placed in AP. In the 2024/25 financial year, the department is increasing high needs revenue funding to over £10.5 billion, which will be an increase of over 60% from 2019/20. The City of York Council is due to receive an allocation of £28.5 million in 2024/25, which is a cumulative increase of 27% per head over the three years from 2021/22. The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places, including for pupils with SEND, sits with local authorities. The department allocates funding to support local authorities to meet this duty and has provided over £1.5 billion of high needs Provision Capital Allocations for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years. This funding can be used to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings, and to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings.

Schools: Children in Care

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has issued guidance for schools on supporting children with care experience with (a) trauma and (b) behavioural issues.

David Johnston: Statutory guidance for virtual school heads and designated teachers, for looked-after and previously looked-after children, recognises the prevalence of social, emotional, and mental health issues amongst the cohort, and the need for whole school awareness of the impact of trauma and attachment disorders. The guidance highlights the impact past experiences can have on behaviour, and the importance of recognising this when considering how best to support the pupil with their learning as well as in the design and application of school behaviour policies.In July 2022, the department published updated guidance on Behaviour in Schools which is the primary source of help and support for schools on developing and implementing a behaviour policy that can create a school culture with high expectations of behaviour.Any school behaviour policy must be lawful, proportionate reasonable and comply with the school’s duties under the Equality Act 2010 and the Education and Inspections Act 2006. Account must be taken of a pupil’s age, any special educational needs or disability they may have, and any religious requirements affecting them.Within these legal parameters, it is then for individual schools to develop their own policies.

Boarding Schools: Special Educational Needs

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of placements at (a) specialist colleges and (b) residential specialist colleges for children with SEND (i) nationally and (ii) in North Yorkshire.

David Johnston: The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places, including for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), sits with local authorities. The ‘Children and Families Act 2014’ requires local authorities to keep the provision for children and young people with SEND under review (including its sufficiency), working with parents, young people, and providers.The department allocates funding to support local authorities to meet this duty and has published over £1.5 billion of High Needs Provision Capital Allocations (HNPCA) for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years. North Yorkshire has been allocated a total of nearly £8.5 million through HNPCA for financial years 2022/23 and 2023/24.This funding can be used to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings, and to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings. Local authorities can spend the funding across the 0 to 25 age range, including in special post-16 institutions or other further education settings. The need for investment across this age range will differ between different local authorities, dependent on local circumstances, and it is therefore for local authorities to determine how to best prioritise their available funding to address their local priorities.Starting from Summer 2023 the department has, for the first time, collected data from local authorities on available capacity in special schools, SEND units and resourced provision, along with corresponding forecasts of demand for these places.This data will help the department to effectively support local authorities to fulfil their statutory duty to provide sufficient specialist places.The department anticipates this being an annual data collection, forming part of the existing School Capacity Survey.

Health Professions and Teachers: Training

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to work with universities to help train (a) doctors, (b) nurses and (c) teachers.

Robert Halfon: The department is working closely with Higher Education Providers (HEP’s) to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to access a world class education. This remains a top priority and is fundamental to the government’s ambition to level-up skills, growth, and economic opportunity across the country.Record numbers of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare staff will be trained in England as part of the first ever NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP), which was published in June 2023. By significantly expanding domestic education, training and recruitment, we will have more healthcare professionals working in the NHS. The LTWP will:Double the number of medical school places to 15,000 a year by 2031/32. To support this ambition, the government will increase the number of medical school places by a third, to 10,000 by 2028/29. This will build on the expansion of medical school places in England to 7,500 per year, a 25% increase, which the government completed in 2020 and that delivered five new medical schools. The government has accelerated the LTWP expansion by allocating 205 additional medical school places for 2024/25, a year ahead of target. The process for allocating 350 additional places for the 2025/26 academic year is underway and further details will be confirmed in due course.Record numbers of nurses are now working in the NHS, and the Plan will increase adult nursing training places by 92%, taking the number of total places up to nearly 38,000 by 2031/32. To support this ambition, the government will increase training places to nearly 28,000 in 2028/29. This forms part of the ambition to increase the number of nursing and midwifery training places to around 58,000 by 2031/32. The government will work towards achieving this by increasing places to over 44,000 by 2028/29, with 20% of registered nurses qualifying through apprenticeship routes compared to just 9% now. The number of nursing applicants still continues to outstrip the places on offer. Nursing and midwifery training places are competitive, and lead to an attractive and important career in the NHS.Introduce medical degree apprenticeships, with pilots running from 2024/25 so that by 2031/32, 2,000 medical students will train via this route. The department will work towards this ambition by growing medical degree apprenticeships to more than 850 by 2028/29 The government is backing the LTWP with over £2.4 billion over the next five years to fund additional education and training places. This is on top of increases to education and training investment, reaching a record £6.1 billion over the next two years. The department is working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, the Office for Students, as well as the General Medical Council to actualise the delivery of the plan.The department will continue to work with the sector so everyone who wants to pursue a rewarding healthcare career has the support and opportunities to do so.There are record numbers of teachers in England’s schools, with more than 468,000 working in state-funded schools across the country, which is 27,000 (6%) more than in 2010. The department works closely with schools and universities to recruit the best teachers, in the subjects and areas they are needed most. The department has already put in place a range of measures for trainees in the 2023/24 academic, including bursaries worth up to £27,000 and scholarships worth up to £29,000, to encourage talented trainees to apply to train in key subjects such as chemistry, computing, mathematics, and physics.The department is also offering a levelling up premium worth up to £3,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools. For 2024/25 and 2025/26, the department is doubling the rates of the levelling up premium to up to £6,000 after tax. This will support recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.The department is also working with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) and an employer-led trailblazer group to develop the Teacher Degree Apprenticeship (TDA). The TDA will be a new route into the teaching profession, for both primary and secondary teachers, through which successful candidates will ‘earn while they learn’ and attain an undergraduate degree and qualified teacher status while working in a school.  Subject to IfATE approvals, the TDA standard will be published in spring 2024, with the candidate recruitment commencing from autumn 2024 and training commencing in autumn 2025.

Schools: Bromley

Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking with Bromley Council to provide additional school places in the north-west of the borough.

Damian Hinds: The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places sits with local authorities. The department provides capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support local authorities to provide school places, based on their own pupil forecasts and school capacity data. Local authorities can use this funding to provide places in new schools or through expansions of existing schools and can work with any school in their local area, including academies and free schools. Bromley has received just over £80 million to support the provision of new school places needed between 2011 and 2022. Bromley has not been allocated funding in subsequent allocations because its data indicates need for mainstream places up to September 2026 had already been funded in previous years.

Special Educational Needs: Qualifications

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will hold discussions with relevant stakeholders on assessing the adequacy of the national curriculum for supporting children with SEND to achieve good qualifications.

Damian Hinds: The department is committed to delivering an education system that works for all children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The National SEND and Alternative Provision Implementation Board, chaired by Ministers, meets regularly to consider a range of issues relating to SEND. As the department made clear in the SEND code of practice, all pupils should have access to a broad and balanced curriculum. The code states: “The National Curriculum Inclusion Statement states that teachers should set high expectations for every pupil, whatever their prior attainment. Teachers should use appropriate assessment to set targets which are deliberately ambitious and potential areas of difficulty should be identified and addressed at the outset. Lessons should be planned to address potential areas of difficulty and to remove barriers to pupil achievement. In many cases, such planning means that pupils with SEND will be able to study the full National Curriculum”. The SEND code of practice can be read in full here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25.

Northern Ireland Office

Casement Park: Investment

Conor McGinn: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, when he plans to announce the investment decision on Casement Park.

Chris Heaton-Harris: My Department is engaging with the Department for Communities, which is responsible for the procurement process for the redevelopment of Casement Park, including direct engagement with local partners on their funding contribution. I wrote to the Northern Ireland Minister for Communities on 27 February to say that it is vital to understand what the most recent costs associated with the redevelopment of Casement Park are.

Northern Ireland Office: Apprentices

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much his Department (a) paid in apprenticeship levy fees and (b) spent from its apprenticeship levy funds between September 2021 and August 2023.

Mr Steve Baker: The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) has contributed £83,000 in apprenticeship Levy funds between September 2021 and August 2023.During the same period, the department has had no spend from the apprenticeship Levy fund. All NIO apprenticeships during this period were covered through the Civil Service-wide apprenticeship schemes, therefore the NIO specifically has not spent any levy funds.

Northern Ireland Office: Advertising

Dame Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much funding his Department has (a) budgeted for and (b) spent on advertising in each of the last three financial years.

Mr Steve Baker: In the last three fiscal years, advertising costs on the Northern Ireland Office general ledgers were as follows: 2020-21: £23,734.112021-22: £44,564.712022-23: £5,651.81 These costs were in line with agreed budgets for this area of spend.

Integrated Schools: Northern Ireland

Claire Hanna: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether Stormont House Agreement Fresh Start funding allocations were included in recent the Northern Ireland Assembly Restoration Package.

Mr Steve Baker: The UK Government is providing the Executive with a significant £3.3 billion spending settlement to stabilise its finances and protect public services. Within this package, we are increasing the spending power of the Executive by repurposing over £700 million of existing and new UK Government funds.The Fresh Start agreement in 2015 made provision for funding for integrated and shared education over 10 years. As that capital funding was due to expire at the end of 2024-25, the decision to remove the ring-fence on £150m of Fresh Start Agreement funding was made by the UK Government after assessing existing funding in Northern Ireland. We came to a considered position in response to the challenging budgetary position faced by the Northern Ireland Executive.The Northern Ireland Executive will be able to decide how it uses the non-ring fenced funding element of reprioritised and new UK Government funding streams which contribute to the settlement package.

Ministry of Justice

Prison Officers: Crimes of Violence

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 28 February 2024 to Question 15436, whether assaults by razor are counted under (a) knife/blade or (b) other sharp instrument.

Edward Argar: Assaults by razor should be counted in knife/blade, as the definition is “an object with a sharp edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces, skin, material”. However, as there is no formal reference to razors, we expect that some may also be in the ‘other sharp instrument’ category, defined as “objects or instruments which are able to cut, prick, cause injury and / or infection e.g.,needle, broken glass” and the ‘other’ category.

Prison Officers: Crimes of Violence

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 28 February 2024 to Question 15436 on Prison Officers: Crimes of Violence, if he will publish the data on method of attack against (a) prison officers and (b) all staff, broken down by victim.

Edward Argar: We publish statistics on the number of total assaults, broken down by type of weapon, as part of our Safety in Custody statistics.Our statisticians regularly review the content of publications and welcome feedback. Development of new and improved statistical outputs is usually dependent on reallocating existing resources. As part of our continual review and prioritisation, we will consider publishing assaults with weapons by victim type.

Community Orders: Staff

Dame Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many community payback supervisors were employed in each year since 2010.

Edward Argar: Community Payback allows the public to see justice being done by ensuring offenders are making visible reparations for their crimes. We have invested £93 million in Community Payback over a three-year period to boost the delivery of placements in local communities. The new unified Probation Service launched in England and Wales in 2021. The Probation Service now has responsibility for unpaid work delivery, which had previously been the responsibility of Community Rehabilitation Companies, as such we do not have staffing data before 2022. Yearly data since 31 December 2021 has been provided in table 1 below. The quarterly HMPPS workforce statistics publication covers staffing information, and the latest publication covers data up to 31 December 2023. Table 1: Band 3 Community payback supervisors1,2 in post each year, as of 31 December 2021-2023(full-time-equivalent)DateNumber of Community payback Supervisors in post31-Dec-2142731-Dec-2257631-Dec-23635 Notes:1. The community payback supervisor job title was first recorded on the SOP HR reporting system in October 2021, and therefore data before this point is not available.2. Includes Probation Service pay band 3 staff.

Dartmoor Prison: Radon Gas

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department have commissioned any reports into the presence of radon gas in HMP Dartmoor.

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when his Department was first aware of the suspected presence of Radon Gas in HMP Dartmoor.

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Annual Report of the Independent Monitoring Board at HMP Dartmoor, published in December 2023, what was the result of the radon inspection at HMP Dartmoor in 2020; and what steps were taken after this inspection.

Edward Argar: HMPPS is continually investing in the prison estate to ensure that prisons remain safe, decent, and secure. Our investment each year ensures that all prisons will remain operational.This includes the continuing programme to improve fire safety across the estate, as per our commitment to the Crown Premises Fire Safety Inspectorate to make all accommodation compliant by the end of 2027, major upgrades to security and investment in safety and decency across all prisons.Radon occurs naturally in various parts of the UK including Dartmoor, and we monitor for its presence in accordance with HSE guidelines. Elevated radon readings were found at Dartmoor in 2020 in subterranean areas adjacent to the kitchen and workshops. Temporary mitigations have been in place at Dartmoor in those areas since 2022 following advice from specialist contractors, pending permanent mitigations that are near completion. Further specialist advice has been commissioned following the recent identification of elevated radon levels in some accommodation areas of the prison. We are closely monitoring radon levels on site and taking appropriate steps to ensure the safety of staff and prisoners.

Dartmoor Prison: Radon Gas

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been moved out of HMP Dartmoor due to the suspected presence of radon gas.

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether prisoners imprisoned in the lower wings in HMP Dartmoor have been moved out of the prison due to the suspected presence of radon gas.

Edward Argar: Between 24 November 2023 and 23 February 2024, the operational capacity of HMP Dartmoor was reduced by 184 places due to the presence of radon gas. Height has no relation to the places taken out of use for this reason; places have been taken out of use from both upper and lower landings. In total, 194 prisoners have transferred out of HMP Dartmoor over this period. This figure represents all transfers out of the prison and not just transfers due to radon. This is a temporary measure while work to permanently reduce radon levels is completed. There are no safety implications to staff or prisoners who remain on site. HMPPS is continually investing in the prison estate to ensure that prisons remain safe, decent and secure. Our investment each year ensures that all prisons will remain operational. This includes the continuing programme to fire safety across the estate, as per our commitment to the Crown Premises Fire Safety Inspectorate to make all accommodation compliant by the end of 2027, major upgrades to security and investment in safety and decency across all prisons.

Emergency Services: Crimes of Violence

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions there have been under the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 in each of the last two years.

Gareth Bacon: The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of offenders convicted for offences relating to assault on emergency worker, covering the period requested. The latest data available, up to the year ending June 2023, can be obtained with the following data tool: Outcomes by Offence tool: June 2023.In the data tool, navigate to ‘Prosecutions and Convictions’ tab and select ‘8.22 Assault of an emergency worker’ in the ‘Offence’ filter.The pivot table will present the total number of offenders convicted for assaulting an emergency worker since year ending June 2011, including the requested last two years.

Ministry of Justice: Apprentices

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department (a) paid in apprenticeship levy fees and (b) spent from its apprenticeship levy funds between September 2021 and August 2023.

Mike Freer: The Department has contributed £22,753,441.56 in Levy funds between September 2021 and August 2023.During the same period, the Department has spent £12,609,530.86.

Department for Work and Pensions

Department for Work and Pensions: Equality

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 23 February 2024 to Question 15472 on Department for Work and Pensions: Equality, which teams across his Department hold that information.

Paul Maynard: Under Public Sector Equality Legislation every person working for the department has a personal responsibility for implementing and promoting commitment to equality in their day-to-day dealings with everyone – including members of the public, other colleagues, employers and partners. The Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing team are responsible for providing advice on Equality Analysis where activity is colleague facing. For customer focussed work, the responsibility sits across multiple teams in Policy and Service Delivery.

Department for Work and Pensions: Publishing

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what reports and guidance their Department has produced in the last three financial years; and how much was spent on their (a) printing and (b) distribution.

Paul Maynard: The information requested is not held centrally and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs. Published guidance and reports can be found on gov.uk.

Menopause: Employment

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help support women experiencing menopause in the workplace.

Mims Davies: The Department of Health and Social Care continue to identify menopause as a priority area in the second year of the Women’s Health Strategy, and Government more widely sees women’s health, and particularly menopause, as an essential factor when supporting the recruitment and retention of older women in the workforce.Helen Tomlinson - Head of Talent (UK & Ireland) at The Adecco Group - was appointed to the voluntary role of Government’s Menopause Employment Champion on 6 March 2023 by the Department for Work and Pensions and is working closely with the Minister for Disabled People, Health & Work. The Menopause Champion is driving awareness of issues surrounding menopause in the workplace; encouraging employers to develop policies that create a more supportive environment to help women stay in work and progress.On World Menopause Day (18 October 2023), Government launched the Menopause Resources Hub on the Help to Grow portal - new guidance providing businesses, large and small, with the resources they need to help educate their organisation and workers about the menopause.The report “No Time to Step Back” summarises the work of Helen Tomlinson in the first six months after her appointment and highlights progress made by businesses during this time. The Menopause Employment Champion’s 12-month progress report “shattering the silence about the Menopause” is due to be published on International Women’s Day.

Housing Benefit: Supported Housing

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department spent on exempt accommodation in each of the last three years.

Mims Davies: Providing the requested information would incur disproportionate costs to the Department due to the resource required to resolve data quality issues on exempt accommodation, which is a particular type of supported housing. Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is working to resolve a historical data quality issue in relation to how supported housing status is captured on Housing Benefit claims. The resulting fix will be for new claims and will not address historic claims. In 2022, DWP made investments to deliver improvements to local authority (LA) IT systems, to accurately record all new Housing Benefit claims. This has substantially improved data quality for new claims. DWP have also taken action to improve data on existing claims. LAs have received funding to review their Housing Benefit caseload and set the supported housing status accurately by 31st March 2024. The Departments’ analysts will then make a final assessment of these case reviews in Summer 2024, once they have received the full relevant data set, and will determine whether it is sufficiently robust to support quantification of the scale and cost of specified accommodation.

Chronic Illnesses: Government Assistance

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support people with (a) Parkinson's and (b) other long-term conditions with their basic financial outgoings.

Mims Davies: People on low, or no income or earnings who have a health condition or disability which restricts the amount of work they can do, can claim Universal Credit (UC). They must provide medical evidence to support their claim - most commonly a Statement of Fitness for Work, usually referred to as a fit note. Claimants whose health condition or disability continues for four weeks or more are referred for a work capability assessment (WCA). The WCA determines how an individual’s health condition or disability affects their ability to work. A key principle is that the WCA considers the impact a person’s disability or health condition has on them, not the condition itself. Where it has been decided that claimants have limited capability for work (LCW) or limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA), they will be entitled to a work allowance, and in couple claims where one is working, access to help with childcare costs.  Where it has been decided that claimants have LCWRA, they may be entitled to the award of an additional amount of benefit – the LCWRA addition – which is £390.06 per month (2023-24 rates). Where it has been decided that claimants have LCW, they are not reasonably expected to look for work at present but are expected to prepare for work in the future. Where it has been decided that claimants have LCWRA, they are not expected to look for work or required to undertake any work-related activity. Where it has been decided that claimants are fit for work, they are expected to undertake work-related activity and to look for work. People whose capability for work is impacted because they are disabled or have a health condition, including people who have Parkinson’s and other long term health conditions, may also be eligible for New Style Employment and Support Allowance (NS ESA) subject to satisfying both the basic and National Insurance contribution conditions. NS ESA is an earnings replacement benefit for working age people who are unable to work due to a health condition or disability. In addition to the support provided for basic financial outgoings by UC people with a long-term health condition or disability may be entitled to support with disability-related extra costs through benefits such as Personal Independence Payment.

Employment: Disability

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether it is his policy to mandate (a) health and safety checks, (b) the provision of adapted (i) computer chairs, (ii) desks, (iii) screens and (iv) keyboards for disabled employees taking part in the Work Guarantee scheme.

Mims Davies: The Chance to Work Guarantee will remove reassessments for the vast majority of existing claimants with no work-related requirements. The purpose of the Guarantee is to encourage claimants who do not currently have any work-related requirements to consider, on a voluntary basis, trying work under ESA permitted work and the UC work allowance rules without the fear of reassessment and losing their benefit entitlement. Employers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled workers. The aim of this duty under equality law is to ensure that, as far as is reasonable, disabled workers have the same access to everything involved in doing and keeping a job as non-disabled workers.

Offshore Industry: North Sea

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to increase the support provided to unemployed North Sea oil and gas workers to find new employment.

Jo Churchill: The oil and gas sector supports over 200,000 jobs and is critical to a successful energy transition. That is why the Government is providing certainty to industry through the introduction of the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill as well as agreeing the North Sea Transition Deal with industry. This includes the development of an industry-led skills passport to enable workers to move between sectors, protecting jobs and ensuring their skills, which are vital for the transition, are not lost.DWP supports people across the country through a range of support including face-to-face time with Work Coaches, job-search advice and more intensive employment programmes, helping those at risk of, or who have been made redundant to move back into work.Through partnerships with local organisations DWP is able to respond to potential and proposed redundancy situations quickly and effectively, with local partners mobilised immediately to offer support and guidance to those affected. Low Value Provision (LVP) is an example of funding that can be used to supply training for Jobcentre Plus Customers, including those at risk of, or who have been made redundant.

Women and Equalities

Rented Housing: Disability

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, when her Department plans to publish its response to the consultation on entitled Improving disabled people’s access to let residential premises: reasonable adjustments to common parts, a new duty.

Stuart Andrew: The Cabinet Office’s Equality Hub is working towards publication of the Government's response to the 2022 consultation on the implementation and commencement of the remaining parts of Section 36 of the Equality Act 2010 and its associated schedules. I would expect further progress on this soon.

Equal Pay

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Government launches pay transparency pilot to break down barriers for women, published on 8 March 2022, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the pay transparency pilot.

Maria Caulfield: Since it was first announced, we have sought to ensure that the pay transparency pilot fits with new priorities introduced by the current Minister for Women and Equalities, and that it does not duplicate work elsewhere in the Equality Hub. As a result, the pilot itself is yet to commence. However, we continue to urge organisations to take steps towards pay transparency, and once established, the pilot will involve organisations sharing how they have overcome challenges to make this a reality.

Scotland Office

Economic Situation: Scotland

Douglas Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the strength of the economy in Scotland.

Mr Alister Jack: Scotland’s economy grew in 2023 and our back to work plan is working with fewer people inactive. We have achieved this alongside our priority of halving inflation.I’m sure my Honourable Friend was also pleased to hear the growth measures we will take to keep Scotland prospering that were announced at the Budget today.

Levelling Up Fund: Scotland

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of levelling up funding on communities in Scotland.

John Lamont: The UK Government is now investing more than £2.9 billion across Levelling Up initiatives in Scotland. That's the equivalent of £538 per person in Scotland.I have personally seen how this funding is regenerating towns, creating jobs, and empowering communities to deliver directly on their ambitions.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Gambling: Advertising

Ronnie Cowan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has taken steps to help ensure that marketing advertisements with gambling content are not seen by children.

Stuart Andrew: In our approach to gambling advertising, we have struck a balanced and evidence-led approach which tackles aggressive advertising that is most likely to appeal to children, while recognising that advertising is an entirely legitimate commercial practice for responsible gambling firms.Last year, HM Government published a White Paper on gambling which outlined a comprehensive package of reforms to make gambling safer following an exhaustive assessment of the evidence, including on gambling advertising. We concluded that further action on advertising was needed, which is why we and the Gambling Commission are introducing measures to tackle the most aggressive and harmful advertising practices by preventing bonuses being constructed and targeted in harmful ways, giving customers more control over the marketing they receive, and introducing messaging about the risks associated with gambling.This supplements the already robust rules in place to ensure that gambling advertising is socially responsible and that it cannot be targeted at or strongly appeal to children. This includes specific licence conditions for operators, including the requirement to abide by the UK Advertising Codes, which further regulate how gambling operators advertise. The UK Advertising Codes were strengthened in 2022, with new protections for children and vulnerable adults.

Arts Council England: Equality

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many staff in Arts Council England have job titles which include the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT and (f) race.

Julia Lopez: The average number of Arts Council England employees (headcount) during the most recent reported year (2022-23) was 700. 11 members of staff have job titles which include one of these words.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Advertising

Pat McFadden: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding (a) her Department and (b) its predecessor Department has (i) budgeted for and (ii) spent on advertising in each of the last three financial years.

Julia Lopez: The department spent the following in each of the last three financial years: Financial year 2020/21Financial year 2021/22Financial year 2022/23Actual spend£259,634.17£666,395.66£253,813.31We are unable to provide budget figures as the Department for Culture, Media and Sport does not budget in-year at such a granular level.